Operational performance of current synthetic aperture radar sensors in mapping soil surface characteristics in agricultural environments: application to hydrological and erosion modelling.

The article discusses the operational performance of current synthetic aperture radar sensors in mapping soil surface characteristics within agricultural environments and their application to hydrological and erosion modelling. The authors state that synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors are used often to characterize the surface of bare soils in agricultural environments. The sensors enable soil moisture and roughness to be estimated with constraints linked to the configurations of the sensors. The authors review the potential of currently operational SAR sensors and those planned for the future to characterize soil surface as a function of users' needs.