Microwave emissivities of land surface were estimated from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) observations using the 19 GHz and 85 GHz channels and surface skin temperature data derived from the Tiros Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS). The atmospheric contribution was calculated from simulations of the Atmospheric Transmission at Millimetric and submillimetric wavelengths (ATM) model. The microwave emissivities over Brazil were estimated for July and December, 1997, using the Radiative Transfer Equation (RTE). The emissivity polarization difference was carried out in order to estimate the land surface roughness pattern. In the absence of direct measurements of surface emissivities at these larger spatial scales, the results show that the regional pattern and seasonal changes of the retrieved emissivities are consistent with the large scale topography and vegetation distributions. Thus, the estimation of the microwave emissivities of land surface may be used to monitor the land surface (for instance, vegetation, deforestation, desertification, etc.).
Emissivity; Microwaves; Satellite; Roughness pattern
