Depolarization of electromagnetic waves scattered from an inhomogeneous half space bounded by a rough surface

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Abstract
This paper presents a development for backscatter from rough surfaces and inhomogeneous media that is valid for microwave frequencies. Calculations of polarized and depolarized backscatter are presented for several values of dielectric constants and volume reflection coefficients of direct interest in active microwave remote sensing of soil moisture content. This paper confirms the finding that depolarized backscatter measurements are much less dependent on incident angle than like polarized backscatter measurements. However, most depolarized measurements reported in the literature exhibit excessive dependence on incident angle. This is an artifact of the measurement technique and not of the depolarization phenomenon.