Soil and Vegetation Monitoring Using Ers-windscatterometer and Ssm/i

Monitoring of global bio-geophysical processes and their changes, that are due to human activities and natural causes, is of vital importance for earth system research. Microwave remote sensing can play a very significant role in a scientific understanding of the entire earth system. Significant geophysical parameters of land surfaces such as soil moisture, vegetation biomass and snow cover, as well as their changes in time, can be estimated on the basis of microwave data and physical models. To date, most of the research on land has been carried out in relatively small areas, using data from highresolution sensors (SAR), while only a few studies have been conducted with low-resolution sensors on a global scale. Among these, the ESA/ERS Wind Scatterometer and the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I), that are mainly designed for sea surface observations, have significant interest also for land application.