RADIOPHYSIC METHOD OF REMOTE EVALUATION OF SOIL SALINITY Russian patent published in 1997 - IPC

FIELD: soil salinity control. SUBSTANCE: method of evaluation of soil salinity from data of remote measurements in centimeter-frequency region radio-frequency emission characteristics of saline soils is based on experimentally established dependence of emission coefficient of frozen soil on its salinity. Such dependence is caused by presence of free water in frozen soil due to interaction of dissolved salts with water molecules and having dielectric characteristics essentially different from those of bound water, mineralogical backbone of soil, and ice. To evaluate salinity of soil (Z, %), emission coefficients X of frozen soils are measured with the aid of centimeter-frequency region radiometric detectors installed on aircraft or on car deck, and Z value is then calculated from following equation: Z = A - B*X where A and B are numerical coefficients depending on grain-size composition and thermodynamic temperature of soil and determined by way of least-squares method treatment of data provided by laboratory and ground measurements of radio-frequency emission characteristics of variable-salinity model grounds at negative temperatures. EFFECT: facilitated evaluation of soil salinity.