Electrodynamic and Physical Characteristics of the Earth’s Surfaces

Abstract

In this chapter, the interrelations between electrodynamic and physical characteristics of earth surfaces are considered. The electrodynamics characteristics are measured by the permittivity that reflects the polarizability of the medium under the perturbation of an external electromagnetic field. The physical characteristics are measured by the thermodynamic (e.g., temperature, pressure) or chemical parameters (e.g., moisture, salinity) of the medium. The electrodynamic characteristics depend on the frequency of the external electromagnetic field, the natural frequencies of the medium, as well as the physical properties indicated above. Since the reflectivity properties of the medium depend on its electrodynamic properties (permittivity), we see how important it is to derive the electrodynamic properties from the physical characteristics of the medium.