Use of periodic stalks to model L band returns from corn

Recent L band dielectric measurements of corn stalks have shown a periodic behavior between node and internode measurements. Based on these measurement results, a corn stalk has been modeled by a dielectric cylinder with a periodic dielectric variation along its length. The development of this model is part of an effort to understand how backscatter and emission from vegetation is related to its moisture content and to its physical structure. Researchers using L band satellite measurements of soil moisture can employ these and similar model results to determine the effects of vegetation on soil moisture measurements from space.