On the Validation of Satellite Microwave Remote Sensing Data under Soil Salinity Conditions

The results of a comparative analysis of the underlying surface brightness temperature obtained from the SMOS satellite and calculated with the use of ground-based measurements of moisture and the laboratory measurements of dielectric characteristics of samples of saline soils and saline water from test sites of the Kulunda Steppe are presented. The values of the underlying surface brightness temperatures calculated with the use of ground investigations and the laboratory studies correlate satisfactorily with the values of brightness temperatures measured from the SMOS satellite. The deviations can be caused by the seasonal drying of highly mineralized shallow lakes, which results in a significant change in the areas occupied by lakes and the appearance (instead of a water surface) of wetlands with a high content of mineral salts, whose radio emission characteristics differ from the characteristics of the water surface and the soil cover.