Hydrological modeling integrated with multifrequency SAR data on the Pesa and Virginio basins of Montespertoli site

The potential of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) in observing land surface characteristics has been investigated during MAC'91 carried out in summer 1991 over several European test-sites and the X-SAR/SIR-C experiment in 1994. The Italian experimental area (Montespertoli) has been imaged by the AIRSAR at P-, L- and C-bands and by the Shuttle SIR-C at L-, C- and X-bands. Calibrated polarimetric data have been analyzed and the backscattering coefficient of single fields has been retrieved. Some correlations with the geophysical parameters, which are part of the hydrological cycle, have been successfully established. In this paper the first integration between parameters retrieved from SAR data and hydrological modeling has been tested.