Adaptation of a Ku-band microwave scatterometer for polarimetry measurements of crop canopy

The adaptation to a polarimeter of a dual polarized, Ku-band, continuous wave, frequency modulated, microwave scatterometer is described. Polarimetry measurements for a field of hard red spring wheat show that the polarized component of the backscattered radiation differs only slightly from the polarization of the illuminating radiation but that the unpolarized backscattered radiation depends on incidence angle and is sensitive to the polarization of the trasmitted signal.