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Satellite Soil Moisture Validation and Applications

A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Remote Sensing in Geology, Geomorphology and Hydrology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2022) | Viewed by 48702

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Guest Editor
Professor and Director, GENRI & ESTC, Department of Geography and GeoInformation Science (GGS), Global Environment and Natural Resources Institute (GENRI), College of Science, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
Interests: remote sensing; earth system and climate science; soil moisture and drought monitoring; water-energy-food nexus; environment and fire science
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Guest Editor
Research Hydrologist, Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory, Rm 104 Bldg 007 BARC-West,10300 Baltimore Ave, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
Interests: in-situ soil moisture network validation; scaling of land surface parameters to satellite scale; validation of satellite soil moisture products

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Guest Editor
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
Interests: microwave remote sensing techniques and algorithms; global water cycle; cryosphere
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
GENRI & ESTC, Department of Geography and GeoInformation Science (GGS), Global Environment and Natural Resources Institute (GENRI), College of Science, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
Interests: satellite remote sensing applications; earth sciences and climate change; soil moisture and drought monitoring; data science and high performance computing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soil moisture is a key element of our Earth’s system and an important indicator of climate change. Soil is the medium for plant growth and the substrate for all biogeochemical and biogeophysical processes. Its unique natural organization forms the foundation of any food–water–energy nexus system. In addition, soil is a very large reservoir for water and carbon with strong influences on local, regional, and global climate. The purpose of the 6th Satellite Soil Moisture and Application Workshop (15-17 Sept. 2020 in Perugia, Italy) is to discuss and reconcile recent methodological advances in the development, validation and application of satellite soil moisture observations. The workshop series is unique as it brings together users and developers of satellite soil moisture measurements with the aim of deriving and exploiting soil moisture from passive and active microwave satellite missions\sensors as well as optical instruments. The topics of the Special Issue include:

  • Soil Moisture Data Product Validation;
  • Space and in situ soil moisture measurements;
  • Soil Moisture Applications in Natural Hazards Monitoring;
  • Weather and Climate Modeling;
  • The Role of Soil Moisture in Carbon Cycle and Ecology;
  • Hydrology and Water Resources;
  • Agriculture and Food Security.
  • Soil-Ecosystem-Carbon-Climate (SECC) Nexus
  • Water-Energy-Food Nexus
  • WMO Soil Moisture Demonstration Project (SMDP)
  • International Soil Moisture Standard and Guidelines

Prof. Dr. John J. Qu
Dr. Luca Brocca
Dr. Michael H. Cosh
Dr. Andreas Colliander
Prof. Dr. Xianjun Hao
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • satellite
  • soil moisture
  • validation
  • applications
  • standard
  • guideline
  • demonstration

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Published Papers (13 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 5484 KiB  
Article
Triple Collocation of Ground-, Satellite- and Land Surface Model-Based Surface Soil Moisture Products in Oklahoma Part II: New Multi-Sensor Soil Moisture (MSSM) Product
by Zhen Hong, Hernan A. Moreno, Laura V. Alvarez, Zhi Li and Yang Hong
Remote Sens. 2023, 15(13), 3450; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15133450 - 7 Jul 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1496
Abstract
This study develops a triple-collocation (TC) based, multi-source shallow-soil moisture product for Oklahoma. The method uses a least squared weights (LSW) optimization to find the set of parameters that result in the lowest root mean squared error (RMSE) with respect to the “unknown [...] Read more.
This study develops a triple-collocation (TC) based, multi-source shallow-soil moisture product for Oklahoma. The method uses a least squared weights (LSW) optimization to find the set of parameters that result in the lowest root mean squared error (RMSE) with respect to the “unknown truth”. Soil moisture information from multiple sources and resolutions, including the Soil Moisture Active Passive SMAP L3_SM_P_E (9 km, daily), the physically-based, land surface model (LSM) estimates from NLDAS_NOAH0125_H (1/8°, hourly), and the Oklahoma Mesonet ground sensor network (9 km interpolated from point, 30 min) is merged into a 9 km spatial and daily temporal resolution product across the state of Oklahoma from April 2015 to July 2019. This multi-sensor surface soil moisture (MSSM) product is assessed in terms of a state-wide benchmark and previously tested, in situ-based soil moisture product and SMAP L4. Results show that: (1) independent source products have differential values according to the regional conditions they represent, including land cover type, soils, irrigation, or climate regime; (2) beyond serving as validation sets, in situ measurements are of significant value for improving the accuracy of multi-sensor soil moisture datasets through TC; and (3) state-wide RMSE values obtained with MSSM are similar to the typical measurement error found on in situ ground measurements which provides some degree of confidence on the new product. MSSM is an improvement over currently available products in Oklahoma due to its minimized uncertainty, easiness of production, and continuous temporal and geographic coverage. Nevertheless, to exploit its utility, further tests of this methodology are needed in different climates, land cover types, geographic regions, and for other independent products and spatiotemporal resolutions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Satellite Soil Moisture Validation and Applications)
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23 pages, 5255 KiB  
Article
Triple Collocation of Ground-, Satellite- and Land Surface Model-Based Surface Soil Moisture Products in Oklahoma—Part I: Individual Product Assessment
by Zhen Hong, Hernan A. Moreno, Zhi Li, Shuo Li, John S. Greene, Yang Hong and Laura V. Alvarez
Remote Sens. 2022, 14(22), 5641; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14225641 - 8 Nov 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1787
Abstract
Improvements in soil moisture observations and modeling play a vital role in drought, water resources, flooding, and landslide management and forecasting. However, the lack of multisensor products that integrate different spatial scales (i.e., from 1 m2 to 102 km2) [...] Read more.
Improvements in soil moisture observations and modeling play a vital role in drought, water resources, flooding, and landslide management and forecasting. However, the lack of multisensor products that integrate different spatial scales (i.e., from 1 m2 to 102 km2) is a pressing need in the management and forecasting chain. Up to date, surface soil moisture estimates could be obtained through three primary approaches: (1) in situ measurements and their interpolations, (2) remote sensing observations, and (3) land surface model (LSM) outputs. Each source of soil moisture has its own spatiotemporal resolution, strengths, and weaknesses. Therefore, their correct interpretation and application require an in-depth understanding of their accuracy and appropriateness. In this study, we explore the utility of the triple collocation (TC) method for an independent assessment of three soil moisture products to characterize their uncertainty structures and make recommendations toward a potential product merge. The state of Oklahoma is an ideal domain to test the hypotheses of this work because of the presence of marked west-to-east gradients in climate, vegetation, and soils. The three target soil moisture products include (1) the remotely sensed microwave soil moisture active passive (SMAP) L3_SM_P_E (9 km, daily), (2) the physically based LSM estimates from NLDAS_NOAH0125_H (1/8°, hourly; Noah), and (3) the Oklahoma Mesonet ground sensor network (point, 30 min). The product assessment was conducted from April 2015 to July 2019. The results indicate that, in general, Mesonet and Noah are the most reliable products, although their performance varies geographically and by land cover type, reflecting the main spatiotemporal characteristics and scope of each product. Specifically, Mesonet provides the best estimates of volumetric soil moisture with a mean Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.805, followed by Noah with 0.747. However, Noah represents the true soil moisture variation better than the interpolated Mesonet product on the mesoscale, with an averaged RMSE of 0.026 m3⁄m3. Over different land cover types, Mesonet had the best performance in shrub/scrub, herbaceous, hay/pasture, and cultivated crops with an average correlation coefficient of 0.79, while Noah achieved the best performance in evergreen, mixed, and deciduous forests, with an average correlation coefficient of 0.74. The period-integrated TC intercomparison results over nine climate divisions indicated that Noah outperformed in the central, northeast, and east-central regions. TC provides not only a new perspective for comparatively assessing multisource soil moisture products but also a basis for objective data merging to capitalize on the strengths of multisensor, multiplatform soil moisture products. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Satellite Soil Moisture Validation and Applications)
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32 pages, 49075 KiB  
Article
Application of Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Satellite Data in Seismic Response Assessment
by Ali Farahani, Mahsa Moradikhaneghahi, Majid Ghayoomi and Jennifer M. Jacobs
Remote Sens. 2022, 14(17), 4375; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14174375 - 2 Sep 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3229
Abstract
The proven relationship between soil moisture and seismic ground response highlights the need for a tool to track the Earth’s surface soil moisture before and after seismic events. This paper introduces the application of Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite data for global [...] Read more.
The proven relationship between soil moisture and seismic ground response highlights the need for a tool to track the Earth’s surface soil moisture before and after seismic events. This paper introduces the application of Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite data for global soil moisture measurement during earthquakes and consequent events. An approach is presented to study areas that experienced high level of increase in soil moisture during eleven earthquakes. Two ancillary datasets, Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) and Global Land Data Assimilation (GLDAS), were used to isolate areas that had an earthquake-induced increase in soil moisture from those that were due to hydrological processes. SMAP-based soil moisture changes were synthesized with seismic records developed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), mapped ground failures in reconnaissance reports, and surface changes marked by Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)-based damage proxy maps. In the majority of the target earthquakes, including Croatia 2020, Greece 2020, Indonesia 2018, Taiwan 2016, Ecuador 2016, and Nepal 2015, a relationship between the SMAP soil moisture estimates and seismic events was evident. For these events, the earthquake-induced soil moisture response occurred in liquefaction-prone seismic zones. The New Zealand 2016 event was the only study region for which there was a clear inconsistency between ΔSMSMAP and the seismic records. The promising relationship between soil moisture changes and ground deformations indicates that SMAP would be a useful data resource for geotechnical earthquake engineering applications and reconnaissance efforts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Satellite Soil Moisture Validation and Applications)
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27 pages, 9333 KiB  
Article
A Comprehensive Evaluation of Gridded L-, C-, and X-Band Microwave Soil Moisture Product over the CZO in the Central Ganga Plains, India
by Saroj Kumar Dash and Rajiv Sinha
Remote Sens. 2022, 14(7), 1629; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14071629 - 29 Mar 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3052
Abstract
Recent developments in passive microwave remote sensing have provided an effective tool for monitoring global soil moisture (SM) observations on a spatiotemporal basis, filling the gap of uneven in-situ measurement distribution. In this paper, four passive microwave SM products from three bands (L, [...] Read more.
Recent developments in passive microwave remote sensing have provided an effective tool for monitoring global soil moisture (SM) observations on a spatiotemporal basis, filling the gap of uneven in-situ measurement distribution. In this paper, four passive microwave SM products from three bands (L, C, and X) are evaluated using in-situ observations, over a dry–wet cycle agricultural (mostly paddy/wheat cycle crops) critical zone observatory (CZO) in the Central Ganga basin, India. The L-band and C/X-band information from Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Passive Enhanced Level 3 (SMAP-L3) and Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2), respectively, was selected for the evaluation. The AMSR2 SM products used here were derived using the Land Parameter Retrieval Model (LPRM) algorithm. Spatially averaged observations from 20 in-situ distributed locations were initially calibrated with a single and continuous monitoring station to obtain long-term ground-based data. Furthermore, several statistical metrices along with the triple collocation (TC) error model were used to evaluate the overall accuracy and random error variance of the remote sensing products. The results indicated an overall superior performance of SMAP-L3 with a slight dry bias (−0.040 m3·m−3) and a correlation of 0.712 with in-situ observations. This also met the accuracy requirement (0.04 m3·m−3) during most seasons with a modest accuracy (0.059 m3·m−3) for the entire experimental period. Among the LPRM datasets, C1 and C2 products behaved similarly (R = 0.621) with a ubRMSE of 0.068 and 0.081, respectively. The X-band product showed a relatively poor performance compared to the other LPRM products. Seasonal performance analysis revealed a higher correlation for all the satellite SM products during monsoon season, indicating a strong seasonality of precipitation. The TC analysis indicated the lowest error variance (0.02 ± 0.003 m3·m−3) for the SMAP-L3. In the end, we introduced Spearman’s rank correlation to assess the dynamic response of SM observations to climatic and vegetation parameters. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Satellite Soil Moisture Validation and Applications)
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23 pages, 30927 KiB  
Article
Validation of Four Satellite-Derived Soil Moisture Products Using Ground-Based In Situ Observations over Northern China
by Weicheng Liu, Jixin Wang, Falei Xu, Chenrui Li and Tao Xian
Remote Sens. 2022, 14(6), 1419; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14061419 - 15 Mar 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2840
Abstract
Accurately obtaining the spatial distribution of soil moisture and its variability are the basis for the land-atmosphere interaction study. We investigated the fidelity of four satellite-based soil moisture products (AMSR2, CCI, SMAP, and SMOS) using in situ observation during the period 2019–2020. The [...] Read more.
Accurately obtaining the spatial distribution of soil moisture and its variability are the basis for the land-atmosphere interaction study. We investigated the fidelity of four satellite-based soil moisture products (AMSR2, CCI, SMAP, and SMOS) using in situ observation during the period 2019–2020. The spatial distribution and variability of different soil moisture products in northern China were analyzed for different seasons and climate zones. The satellite products showed the best performance of summer soil moisture with the bias and uncertainty of the three products (CCI, SMAP, and SMOS) being less than 0.041 and 0.097, whereas soil moisture showed a large bias in winter. For all seasons, AMSR2 and CCI demonstrated a positive bias whereas SMAP and SMOS showed a negative bias. CCI product had little bias in spring, summer, and fall in northern China, while SMAP and SMOS had the smallest bias in winter. For different climate zones, CCI product performed better in describing the temporal variability of soil moisture in arid climate zones with the correlation coefficients > 0.50 for most areas, while AMSR2 product provided a similar spatial distribution. In the eastern monsoon region, the soil moisture from SMAP and SMOS was found to have a large bias, whereas the bias in CCI product was small. Four products failed to reproduce the observed soil moisture characteristics in the transitional zones affected by the summer monsoon, with a positive bias found in AMSR2 and CCI and the largest biases in SMAP and SMOS products. We also suggest several reasons for the bias and error in the satellite soil moisture products. These results have important implications for soil moisture studies over midlatitude regions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Satellite Soil Moisture Validation and Applications)
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29 pages, 5699 KiB  
Article
Improvement of the Soil Moisture Retrieval Procedure Based on the Integration of UAV Photogrammetry and Satellite Remote Sensing Information
by Amal Chakhar, David Hernández-López, Rocío Ballesteros and Miguel A. Moreno
Remote Sens. 2021, 13(24), 4968; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13244968 - 7 Dec 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3826
Abstract
In countries characterized by arid and semi-arid climates, a precise determination of soil moisture conditions on the field scale is critically important, especially in the first crop growth stages, to schedule irrigation and to avoid wasting water. The objective of this study was [...] Read more.
In countries characterized by arid and semi-arid climates, a precise determination of soil moisture conditions on the field scale is critically important, especially in the first crop growth stages, to schedule irrigation and to avoid wasting water. The objective of this study was to apply the operative methodology that allowed surface soil moisture (SSM) content in a semi-arid environment to be estimated. SSM retrieval was carried out by combining two scattering models (IEM and WCM), supplied by backscattering coefficients at the VV polarization obtained from the C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), a vegetation descriptor NDVI obtained from the optical sensor, among other essential parameters. The inversion of these models was performed by Neural Networks (NN). The combined models were calibrated by the Sentinel 1 and Sentinel 2 data collected on bare soil, and in cereal, pea and onion crop fields. To retrieve SSM, these scattering models need accurate measurements of the roughness surface parameters, standard deviation of the surface height (hrms) and correlation length (L). This work used a photogrammetric acquisition system carried on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to reconstruct digital surface models (DSM), which allowed these soil roughness parameters to be acquired in a large portion of the studied fields. The obtained results showed that the applied improved methodology effectively estimated SSM on bare and cultivated soils in the principal early growth stages. The bare soil experimentation yielded an R2 = 0.74 between the estimated and observed SSMs. For the cereal field, the relation between the estimated and measured SSMs yielded R2 = 0.71. In the experimental pea fields, the relation between the estimated and measured SSMs revealed R2 = 0.72 and 0.78, respectively, for peas 1 and peas 2. For the onion experimentation, the highest R2 equaled 0.5 in the principal growth stage (leaf development), but the crop R2 drastically decreased to 0.08 in the completed growth phase. The acquired results showed that the applied improved methodology proves to be an effective tool for estimating the SSM on bare and cultivated soils in the principal early growth stages. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Satellite Soil Moisture Validation and Applications)
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25 pages, 2487 KiB  
Article
Cereal Crops Soil Parameters Retrieval Using L-Band ALOS-2 and C-Band Sentinel-1 Sensors
by Emna Ayari, Zeineb Kassouk, Zohra Lili-Chabaane, Nicolas Baghdadi, Safa Bousbih and Mehrez Zribi
Remote Sens. 2021, 13(7), 1393; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13071393 - 4 Apr 2021
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 3818
Abstract
This paper discusses the potential of L-band Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2) and C-band Sentinel-1 radar data for retrieving soil parameters over cereal fields. For this purpose, multi-incidence, multi-polarization and dual-frequency satellite data were acquired simultaneously with in situ measurements collected over a [...] Read more.
This paper discusses the potential of L-band Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2) and C-band Sentinel-1 radar data for retrieving soil parameters over cereal fields. For this purpose, multi-incidence, multi-polarization and dual-frequency satellite data were acquired simultaneously with in situ measurements collected over a semiarid area, the Merguellil Plain (central Tunisia). The L- and C-band signal sensitivity to soil roughness, moisture and vegetation was investigated. High correlation coefficients were observed between the radar signals and soil roughness values for all processed multi-configurations of ALOS-2 and Sentinel-1 data. The sensitivity of SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) data to soil moisture was investigated for three classes of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) (low vegetation cover, medium cover and dense cover), illustrating a decreasing sensitivity with increasing NDVI values. The highest sensitivity to soil moisture under the dense cover class is observed in L-band data. For various vegetation properties (leaf area index (LAI), height of vegetation cover (H) and vegetation water content (VWC)), a strong correlation is observed with the ALOS-2 radar signals (in HH(Horizontal-Horizontal) and HV(Horizontal-Vertical) polarizations). Different empirical models that link radar signals (in the L- and C-bands) to soil moisture and roughness parameters, as well as the semi-empirical Dubois modified model (Dubois-B) and the modified integral equation model (IEM-B), over bare soils are proposed for all polarizations. The results reveal that IEM-B performed a better accuracy comparing to Dubois-B. This analysis is also proposed for covered surfaces using different options provided by the water cloud model (WCM) (with and without the soil–vegetation interaction scattering term) coupled with the best accuracy bare soil backscattering models: IEM-B for co-polarization and empirical models for the entire dataset. Based on the validated backscattering models, different options of coupled models are tested for soil moisture inversion. The integration of a soil–vegetation interaction component in the WCM illustrates a considerable contribution to soil moisture precision in the HV polarization mode in the L-band frequency and a neglected effect on C-band data inversion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Satellite Soil Moisture Validation and Applications)
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23 pages, 7143 KiB  
Article
A Novel Scheme for Merging Active and Passive Satellite Soil Moisture Retrievals Based on Maximizing the Signal to Noise Ratio
by B. G. Mousa, Hong Shu, Mohamed Freeshah and Aqil Tariq
Remote Sens. 2020, 12(22), 3804; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12223804 - 20 Nov 2020
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4103
Abstract
In this research, we developed and evaluated a new scheme for merging soil moisture (SM) retrievals from both passive and active microwave satellite estimates, based on maximized signal-to-noise ratios, in order to produce improved SM products using least-squares theory. The fractional mean-squared-error (fMSE) [...] Read more.
In this research, we developed and evaluated a new scheme for merging soil moisture (SM) retrievals from both passive and active microwave satellite estimates, based on maximized signal-to-noise ratios, in order to produce improved SM products using least-squares theory. The fractional mean-squared-error (fMSE) derived from the triple collocation method (TCM) was used for this purpose. The proposed scheme was applied by using a threshold between signal and noise at fMSE equal to 0.5 to maintain the high-quality SM observations. In the regions where TCM is unreliable, we propose four scenarios based on the determinations of correlations between all three SM products of TCM at significance levels (i.e., p-values). The proposed scheme was applied to combine SM retrievals from Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP), Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT), and Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) to produce SMAP+ASCAT and AMSR2+ASCAT SM datasets at a global scale for the period from June 2015 to December 2017. The merged SM dataset performance was assessed against SM data from ground measurements of international soil moisture network (ISMN), Global Land Data Assimilation System-Noah (GLDAS-Noah) and ERA5. The results show that the two merged SM datasets showed significant improvement over their parent products in the high average temporal correlation coefficients (R) and the lowest root mean squared difference (RMSE), compared with in-situ measurements over different networks of ISMN. Moreover, these datasets outperformed their parent products over different land cover types in most regions of the world, with a high overall average temporal R and the lowest overall average RMSE value with GLDAS and ERA5. In addition, the suggested scenarios improved SM performance in the regions with unreliable TCMs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Satellite Soil Moisture Validation and Applications)
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22 pages, 3642 KiB  
Article
Triple Collocation-Based Assessment of Satellite Soil Moisture Products with In Situ Measurements in China: Understanding the Error Sources
by Xiaotao Wu, Guihua Lu, Zhiyong Wu, Hai He, Tracy Scanlon and Wouter Dorigo
Remote Sens. 2020, 12(14), 2275; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12142275 - 15 Jul 2020
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 3495
Abstract
With the increasing utilization of satellite-based soil moisture products, a primary challenge is knowing their accuracy and robustness. This study presents a comprehensive assessment over China of three widely used global satellite soil moisture products, i.e., Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP), European Space [...] Read more.
With the increasing utilization of satellite-based soil moisture products, a primary challenge is knowing their accuracy and robustness. This study presents a comprehensive assessment over China of three widely used global satellite soil moisture products, i.e., Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP), European Space Agency (ESA) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) Soil Moisture, Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS). In situ soil moisture from 1682 stations and Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model are used to evaluate the performance of SMAP_L3, ESA_CCI_SM_COMBINED, SMOS_CATDS_L3 from 31 March 2015 to 3 June 2018. The Triple Collocation (TC) approach is used to minimize the uncertainty (e.g., scale issue) during the validation process. The TC analysis is conducted using three triplets, i.e., [SMAP-Insitu-VIC], [CCI-Insitu-VIC], [SMOS-Insitu-VIC]. In general, SMAP is the most reliable product, reflecting the main spatiotemporal characteristics of soil moisture, while SMOS has the lowest accuracy. The results demonstrate that the overall root mean square error of SMAP, CCI, SMOS is 0.040, 0.028, 0.107 m3m−3, respectively. The overall temporal correlation coefficient of SMAP, CCI, SMOS is 0.68, 0.65, 0.38, respectively. The overall fractional root mean square error of SMAP, CCI, SMOS is 0.707, 0.750, 0.897, respectively. In irrigated areas, the accuracy of CCI is reduced due to the land surface model (which does not consider irrigation) used for the rescaling of the CCI_COMBINED soil moisture product during the merging process, while SMAP and SMOS preserve the irrigation signal. The quality of SMOS is most strongly impacted by land surface temperature, vegetation, and soil texture, while the quality of CCI is the least affected by these factors. With the increase of Radio Frequency Interference, the accuracy of SMOS decreases dramatically, followed by SMAP and CCI. Higher representativeness error of in situ stations is noted in regions with higher topographic complexity. This study helps to provide a guideline for the application of satellite soil moisture products in scientific research and gives some references (e.g., modify data algorithm according to the main error sources) for improving the data quality. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Satellite Soil Moisture Validation and Applications)
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20 pages, 6204 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Remotely Sensed and Modelled Soil Moisture Data Products in the U.S. Southern Great Plains
by Bo Jiang, Hongbo Su, Kai Liu and Shaohui Chen
Remote Sens. 2020, 12(12), 2030; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12122030 - 24 Jun 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3101
Abstract
Soil moisture (SM) plays a crucial role in the water and energy flux exchange between the atmosphere and the land surface. Remote sensing and modeling are two main approaches to obtain SM over a large-scale area. However, there is a big difference between [...] Read more.
Soil moisture (SM) plays a crucial role in the water and energy flux exchange between the atmosphere and the land surface. Remote sensing and modeling are two main approaches to obtain SM over a large-scale area. However, there is a big difference between them due to algorithm, spatial-temporal resolution, observation depth and measurement uncertainties. In this study, an assessment of the comparison of two state-of-the-art remotely sensed SM products, Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) and European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative (ESACCI), and one land surface modeled dataset from the North American Land Data Assimilation System project phase 2 (NLDAS-2), were conducted using 17 permanent SM observation sites located in the Southern Great Plains (SGP) in the U.S. We first compared the daily mean SM of three products with in-situ measurements; then, we decompose the raw time series into a short-term seasonal part and anomaly by using a moving smooth window (35 days). In addition, we calculate the daily spatial difference between three products based on in-situ data and assess their temporal evolution. The results demonstrate that (1) in terms of temporal correlation R, the SMAP (R = 0.78) outperforms ESACCI (R = 0.62) and NLDAS-2 (R = 0.72) overall; (2) for the seasonal component, the correlation R of SMAP still outperforms the other two products, and the correlation R of ESACCI and NLDAS-2 have not improved like the SMAP; as for anomaly, there is no difference between the remotely sensed and modeling data, which implies the potential for the satellite products to capture the variations of short-term rainfall events; (3) the distribution pattern of spatial bias is different between the three products. For NLDAS-2, it is strongly dependent on precipitation; meanwhile, the spatial distribution of bias represents less correlation with the precipitation for two remotely sensed products, especially for the SMAP. Overall, the SMAP was superior to the other two products, especially when the SM was of low value. The difference between the remotely sensed and modeling products with respect to the vegetation type might be an important reason for the errors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Satellite Soil Moisture Validation and Applications)
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17 pages, 2727 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Satellite-Derived Surface Soil Moisture Products over Agricultural Regions of Canada
by Yaasiin Oozeer, Christopher G. Fletcher and Catherine Champagne
Remote Sens. 2020, 12(9), 1455; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12091455 - 4 May 2020
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4390
Abstract
Soil moisture is a critical indicator for climate change and agricultural drought, but its measurement is challenging due to large variability with land cover, soil type, time, space and depth. Satellite estimates of soil moisture are highly desirable and have become more widely [...] Read more.
Soil moisture is a critical indicator for climate change and agricultural drought, but its measurement is challenging due to large variability with land cover, soil type, time, space and depth. Satellite estimates of soil moisture are highly desirable and have become more widely available over the past decade. This study investigates and compares the performance of four surface soil moisture satellite datasets over Canada, namely, Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity Level 3 (SMOS L3), versions 3.3 and 4.2 of European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative (ESA CCI) soil moisture product and a recent product called SMOS-INRA-CESBIO (SMOS-IC) that contains corrections designed to reduce several known sources of uncertainty in SMOS L3. These datasets were evaluated against in situ networks located in mostly agricultural regions of Canada for the period 2012 to 2014. Two statistical comparison methods were used, namely, metrics for mean soil moisture and median of metrics. The results suggest that, while both methods show similar comparisons for regional networks, over large networks, the median of metrics method is more representative of the overall correlation and variability and is therefore a more appropriate method for evaluating the performance of satellite products. Overall, the SMOS products have higher daily temporal correlations, but larger biases, against in situ soil moisture than the ESA CCI products, with SMOS-IC having higher correlations and smaller variability than SMOS L3. The SMOS products capture daily wetting and drying events better than the ESA CCI products, with the SMOS products capturing at least 75% of observed drying as compared to 55% for the ESA CCI products. Overall, for periods during which there are sufficient observations, both SMOS products are more suitable for agricultural applications over Canada than the ESA CCI products, even though SMOS-IC is able to capture soil moisture variability more accurately than SMOS L3. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Satellite Soil Moisture Validation and Applications)
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18 pages, 3321 KiB  
Article
Monitoring Surface Soil Moisture Content over the Vegetated Area by Integrating Optical and SAR Satellite Observations in the Permafrost Region of Tibetan Plateau
by Chenyang Xu, John J. Qu, Xianjun Hao and Di Wu
Remote Sens. 2020, 12(1), 183; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12010183 - 3 Jan 2020
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4799
Abstract
Surface soil moisture (SSM), the average water content of surface soil (up to 5 cm depth), plays a key role in the energy exchange within the ecosystem. We estimated SSM in areas with vegetation cover (grassland) by combining microwave and optical satellite measurements [...] Read more.
Surface soil moisture (SSM), the average water content of surface soil (up to 5 cm depth), plays a key role in the energy exchange within the ecosystem. We estimated SSM in areas with vegetation cover (grassland) by combining microwave and optical satellite measurements in the central Tibetan Plateau (TP) in 2015. We exploited TERRA moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Sentinel-1A synthetic aperture radar (SAR) observations to estimate SSM through a simplified water-cloud model (sWCM). This model considers the impact of vegetation water content (VWC) to SSM retrieval by integrating the vegetation index (VI), the normalized difference water index (NDWI), or the normalized difference infrared index (NDII). Sentinel-1 SAR C-band backscattering coefficients, incidence angle, and NDWI/NDII were assimilated in the sWCM to monitor SSM. The soil moisture and temperature monitoring network on the central TP (CTP-SMTMN) measures SSM within the study area, and ground measurements were applied to train and validate the model. Via the proposed methods, we estimated the SSM in vegetated area with an R2 of 0.43 and a ubRMSE of 0.06 m3/m3 when integrating the NDWI and with an R2 of 0.45 and a ubRMSE of 0.06 m3/m3 when integrating the NDII. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Satellite Soil Moisture Validation and Applications)
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19 pages, 5423 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Two SMAP Soil Moisture Retrievals Using Modeled- and Ground-Based Measurements
by Li Bai, Xin Lv and Xiaojun Li
Remote Sens. 2019, 11(24), 2891; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11242891 - 4 Dec 2019
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3628
Abstract
A comprehensive evaluation of the performance of satellite-based soil moisture (SM) retrievals is undoubtedly very important to improve its quality and evaluate its potential application in hydrology, climate, and natural disasters (drought, flood, etc.). Since the release of the SMAP (Soil Moisture Active [...] Read more.
A comprehensive evaluation of the performance of satellite-based soil moisture (SM) retrievals is undoubtedly very important to improve its quality and evaluate its potential application in hydrology, climate, and natural disasters (drought, flood, etc.). Since the release of the SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive) mission data in April 2015, the associated SM retrieval algorithms have developed rapidly, and their improvement work is still in progress. However, some newly developed SM retrievals have not been fully assessed and inter-compared. One such product is the new multi-temporal dual-channel retrieval algorithm (MT-DCA) SM retrievals, which was recently retrieved using the so-called MT-DCA algorithm. To solve this, we aim to assess the MT-DCA SM retrievals along with the SMAP-enhanced level three SM products (SPL3SMP_E, version 2). More specifically, in this paper we evaluated and inter-compared the two SMAP SM retrievals with the ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) modeled SM and ISMN (International Soil Moisture Network) in situ observations by applying four statistical scores: Pearson correlation coefficient (R), root mean square difference (RMSD), bias, and unbiased RMSD (ubRMSD). It was found that both SMAP SM retrievals can better capture the seasonal variations of ECMWF-modeled SM and ground-based measurements according to correlations, and MT-DCA SM was drier than SPL3SMP_E SM by ~0.018 m3/m3 on average on a global scale. With respect to the ISMN ground-based measurements, the performance of SPL3SMP_E SM compared better than the MT-DCA SM. The median ubRMSD of SPL3SMP_E SM and MT-DCA SM with ground measurements computed over all selected ISMN sites were 0.058 m3/m3 and 0.070 m3/m3, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Satellite Soil Moisture Validation and Applications)
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