Soil Composition Determination Based on Soil Optical Properties In The Thermal Infrared

Current research into the use of electro-optical sensing modalities for the detection of landmines and other objects in complex backgrounds has led to the need to understand the optical properties of background materials (e.g., soils) in more detail. In particular, the use of spectral and polarimetric signatures in the optical and infrared domains has been the subject of much study; an understanding of soil, foliage, and other background optical properties and their variations is critical to evaluating the utility of these signatures. Our research examined both soil polarimetric signatures and emissive characteristics in the context of a real world environment; specifically, we examined the infrared spectral and polarimetric properties of soil components within the complex natural radiative environment. A modified Hapke radiative transfer model was employed to compute these properties. This paper will present a brief overview of this computational model and results from the optical property calculations for several mineral types and soil compositions. In a parallel study, hyperspectral data of soils were analyzed and compared to evaluate the influence of local environmental conditions on soil spectral features. The results of this study will also be presented and compared to the modeling computations.