Potentiality of RADARSAT-1 images in the detection of salt affected soils in the arid zone: Wadi El-Natrun, Egypt

This paper presents a simulation comparative study of the effect of salt on the imaginary part (/spl epsiv/") of the dielectric constant (/spl epsiv/) and therefore on the backscattering coefficient (/spl sigma//sub 0/). Mixing model is adapted to estimate this effect on Soil of Wadi El-Natrun area, west desert of Egypt, as a representative area of salt affected soils in the arid zone. Small perturbation backscattering coefficient model (SPM) is also used to estimate the best mode of RADARSAT-1. S1 and S3 were found to be the best choice to detect such type of soil for this area and similar one.