Dielectric properties of marsh vegetation

The present work is devoted to the measurement of the dielectric properties of mosses and lichens in the frequency range from 500 MHz to 18 GHz. Subjects of this research were three species of march vegetation – moss (Dicranum polysetum Michx), groundcedar (Diphasiastrum complanatum (L.) Holub) and lichen (Cladonia stellaris). Samples of vegetation were collected in Tomsk region, Western Siberia, Russia. Complex dielectric permittivity was measured in coaxial section by Agilent Technologies vector network analyzer E8363B. Green samples was measured for some moisture contents from 100% to 3–5 % during a natural drying. The measurements were performed at room temperature, which remained within 21 ÷ 23 ° C. The frequency dependence of the dielectric constant for the three species of marsh vegetation differ markedly. Different parts of the complex permittivity dependency on moisture were fitted by line for all frequency points. Two break point were observed corresponding to the transition of water in the vegetation in various phase states. The complex permittivity spectra of water in the vegetation allow determining the most likely corresponding dielectric model of water in the vegetation by the method of hypothesis testing. It is the Debye’s model. Parameters of Debye’s model were obtained by numerical methods for all of three states of water. This enables to calculate the dielectric constant of water at any frequency range from 500 MHz to 18 GHz and to find the parameters of the dielectric model of the vegetation