Use of SAR images for soil surface moisture estimation requires taking into account the other factors that influence the radar backscattering signal, among which the surface cover roughness at centimeter scale is very important. There are several methods to determine the roughness, but many are expensive or complex field operation. A versatile and economic method that uses a photographic camera and a girded screen is presented. Each picture is numerically processed obtaining the RMS height, as parameter of the crop-soil complex roughness. By means of krigging geostatistics techniques the spatial distribution of roughness is estimated. Experiences in parcels with wheat cover, located in the hill agricultural area of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina are shown. The found RMS values (29 mm < RMS < 48 mm) are analyzed with four roughness approaches. Their utility in order to estimate soil surface moisture status in agricultural parcels by means of their application like input into the SAR images backscattering models is stated.
surface roughness; microtopography; roughness meter
