Soil salinity estimation: Effects of microwave dielectric spectroscopy and important frequencies

Abstract

The microwave dielectric constant is a key bridge in establishing the relationship between microwave remote sensing and soil salinity (electrical conductivity, EC). However, the response between microwave dielectric spectrum type, frequency, and soil salinity is still unclear. The purpose of this study is to reveal the dielectric spectrum and frequency range closely related to soil salinity. In this study, 129 surface soil samples were collected, and soil EC and microwave dielectric spectrum (frequency range of 0.3–20 GHz) were measured. Four variable selection methods were used to select important spectral variables, and the relationship between these spectral variables and soil salt was constructed using a random forest model. The results showed that the combination of boldε′ (real part) and boldε′′ (imaginary part) revealed the most implicit information related to soil salinity. Considering the important spectral variables, the model accuracy was generally improved to the full‐dielectric spectrum model (the ratios of the performance to the interquartile distance (RPIQ) improved by 0.11–0.40); furthermore, the variable iterative space shrinkage (VISSA) method could most effectively select important spectral variables (RPIQ = 2.32). The selected spectral‐RF models could provide important frequencies for estimating soil salinity; moreover, the low‐frequency range (0.3–4 GHz) and new important frequency ranges (e.g., 7 and 15 GHz) able to respond to soil salinity were identified. This study provides a new strategy for monitoring the soil salinization risk using multiple frequencies microwave remote sensing techniques.

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