scholarly journals Triple Collocation-Based Assessment of Satellite Soil Moisture Products with In Situ Measurements in China: Understanding the Error Sources

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 2275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaotao Wu ◽  
Guihua Lu ◽  
Zhiyong Wu ◽  
Hai He ◽  
Tracy Scanlon ◽  
...  

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.

2008 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1339-1351 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Laguardia ◽  
S. Niemeyer

Abstract. In order to evaluate the reliability of the soil moisture product obtained by means of the LISFLOOD hydrological model (De Roo et al., 2000), we compare it to soil moisture estimates derived from ERS scatterometer data (Wagner et al., 1999b). Once evaluated the effect of scale mismatch, we calculate the root mean square error and the correlation between the two soil moisture time series on a pixel basis and we assess the fraction of variance that can be explained by a set of input parameter fields that vary from elevation and soil depth to rainfall statistics and missing or snow covered ERS images. The two datasets show good agreement over large regions, with 90% of the area having a positive correlation coefficient and 66% having a root mean square error minor than 0.5 pF units. Major inconsistencies are located in mountainous regions such as the Alps or Scandinavia where both the methodologies suffer from insufficiently resolved land surface processes at the given spatial resolution, as well as from limited availability of satellite data on the one hand and the uncertainties in meteorological data retrieval on the other hand.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4385-4405
Author(s):  
Yaoping Wang ◽  
Jiafu Mao ◽  
Mingzhou Jin ◽  
Forrest M. Hoffman ◽  
Xiaoying Shi ◽  
...  

Abstract. Soil moisture (SM) datasets are critical to understanding the global water, energy, and biogeochemical cycles and benefit extensive societal applications. However, individual sources of SM data (e.g., in situ and satellite observations, reanalysis, offline land surface model simulations, Earth system model – ESM – simulations) have source-specific limitations and biases related to the spatiotemporal continuity, resolutions, and modeling and retrieval assumptions. Here, we developed seven global, gap-free, long-term (1970–2016), multilayer (0–10, 10–30, 30–50, and 50–100 cm) SM products at monthly 0.5∘ resolution (available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13661312.v1; Wang and Mao, 2021) by synthesizing a wide range of SM datasets using three statistical methods (unweighted averaging, optimal linear combination, and emergent constraint). The merged products outperformed their source datasets when evaluated with in situ observations (mean bias from −0.044 to 0.033 m3 m−3, root mean square errors from 0.076 to 0.104 m3 m−3, Pearson correlations from 0.35 to 0.67) and multiple gridded datasets that did not enter merging because of insufficient spatial, temporal, or soil layer coverage. Three of the new SM products, which were produced by applying any of the three merging methods to the source datasets excluding the ESMs, had lower bias and root mean square errors and higher correlations than the ESM-dependent merged products. The ESM-independent products also showed a better ability to capture historical large-scale drought events than the ESM-dependent products. The merged products generally showed reasonable temporal homogeneity and physically plausible global sensitivities to observed meteorological factors, except that the ESM-dependent products underestimated the low-frequency temporal variability in SM and overestimated the high-frequency variability for the 50–100 cm depth. Based on these evaluation results, the three ESM-independent products were finally recommended for future applications because of their better performances than the ESM-dependent ones. Despite uncertainties in the raw SM datasets and fusion methods, these hybrid products create added value over existing SM datasets because of the performance improvement and harmonized spatial, temporal, and vertical coverages, and they provide a new foundation for scientific investigation and resource management.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saroj Dash ◽  
Rajiv Sinha

<p>Soil moisture (SM) products derived from the passive satellite missions have been extensively used in various hydrological and environmental processes. However, validation of the satellite derived product is crucial for its reliability in several applications. In this study, we present a comprehensive validation of the descending SM product from Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Enhanced Level-3 (L3) radiometer (SMAP L3-Version 3) and the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) Level-3 (Version 1), over the newly established Critical Zone Observatory (CZO) within the Ganga basin, North India. The AMSR2 soil moisture product used here, has been derived using the Land Parameter Retrieval Model (LPRM) algorithm. Four SM derived products from SMAP (L-band) and AMSR2 (C1- and C2- and X-band) are validated against the in-situ observations collected from 21 SM monitoring locations distributed over the CZO within a period from September 2017 to December 2019, for a total of 62 days. Since the remotely sensed SM product has a coarser spatial resolution (here 9 km for SMAP and 10 km for AMSR2), the assessment has been carried out for the temporal variation of the measured values. Four statistical metrics such as bias, root mean square error (RMSE), unbiased root-mean-square error (ubRMSE) and the correlation coefficient (R) have been used here for the evaluation. The SMAP Level-3 products are found to show a satisfactory correlation (R>0.6) compared to the other three SM product. Both the SMAP L3 and the AMSR2 C2 SM shows a negative bias, -0.05 m<sup>3</sup>/m<sup>3</sup> and -0.04 m<sup>3</sup>/m<sup>3 </sup>respectively whereas these values are found to be 0.04 m<sup>3</sup>/m<sup>3</sup> and 0.06 m<sup>3</sup>/m<sup>3</sup> for C1 and X bands of AMSR2, respectively. Furthermore, the RMSE between the SMAP L3 and in-situ data is 0.07 m<sup>3</sup>/m<sup>3</sup>, which is slightly underperformed when considering the required accuracy of SMAP. This is possibly due to variation in the sampling depth along with the sampling day distribution over CZO. The AMSR2 SM products (C1-, C2- and X-bands) are found to have a higher RMSE than SMAP L3, ranging from 0.08-0.1 m<sup>3</sup>/m<sup>3</sup>. In addition, the ubRMSE for all remotely sensed soil moisture product range from 0.06-0.08 m<sup>3</sup>/m<sup>3</sup> with the lowest value for the SMAP L3 and AMSR2 C1. The results in this study can be used further for relevant hydrological modelling along with evaluating various downscaling strategies towards improving the coarser resolution satellite soil moisture.</p>


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth J. Tobin ◽  
Roberto Torres ◽  
Wade T. Crow ◽  
Marvin E. Bennett

Abstract. This study applied the exponential filter to produce an estimate of root-zone soil moisture (RZSM). Four types of microwave-based, surface satellite soil moisture were used. The core remotely sensed data for this study came from NASA’s long lasting AMSR-E mission. Additionally three other products were obtained from the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative (CCI). These datasets were blended based on all available satellite observations (CCI-Active; CCI-Passive; CCI-Combined). All of these products were quarter degree and daily. We applied the filter to produce a soil moisture index (SWI) that others have successfully used to estimate RZSM. The only unknown in this approach was the characteristic time of soil moisture variation (T). We examined five different eras (1997–2002; 2002–2005; 2005–2008; 2008–2011; 2011–2014) that represented periods with different satellite data sensors. SWI values were compared with in situ soil moisture data from the International Soil Moisture Network at a depth ranging from 20 to 25 cm. Selected networks included the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program (25 cm), Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN; 20.32 cm), SNOwpack TELemetry (SNOTEL; 20.32 cm), and the U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN; 20 cm). We selected in situ stations that had reasonable completeness. These datasets were used to filter out periods with freezing temperatures and rainfall using data from the Parameter elevation Regression on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM). Additionally, we only examined sites where surface and root zone soil moisture had a reasonable high lagged correlation coefficient (r > 0.5). The unknown T value was constrained based on two approaches: optimization of root mean square error (RSME) and calculation based on the NDVI value. Both approaches yielded comparable results; although, as to be expected, the optimization approach generally outperformed NDVI based estimates. Best results were noted at stations that had an absolute bias within 10 %. SWI estimates were more impacted by the in situ network than the surface satellite product used to drive the exponential filter. Average Nash-Sutcliffe coefficients (NS) for ARM ranged from −0.1 to 0.3 and were similar to the results obtained from the USCRN network (0.2 to 0.3). NS values from the SCAN and SNOTEL networks were slightly higher (0.1 to 0.5). These results indicated that this approach had some skill in providing an estimate of RZSM. In terms of root mean square error (RMSE; in volumetric soil moisture) ARM values actually outperformed those from other networks (0.02 to 0.04). SCAN and USCRN RMSE average values ranged from 0.04 to 0.06 and SNOTEL average RMSE values were higher ranging (0.05 to 0.07). These values were close to 0.04, which is the baseline value for accuracy designated for many satellite soil moisture missions.


2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 1227-1265 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Laguardia ◽  
S. Niemeyer

Abstract. In order to evaluate the reliability of the soil moisture product obtained by means of the LISFLOOD hydrological model (De Roo et al., 2000), we compare it to soil moisture estimates derived from ERS scatterometer data (Wagner et al., 1999). Once calculated the root mean square error and the correlation between the two soil moisture time series on a pixel basis, we assess the fraction of variance that can be explained by a set of input parameter fields that vary from elevation and soil depth to rainfall statistics and missing or snow covered ERS images. The two datasets show good agreement over large regions, with 90% of the area having a positive correlation coefficient and 66% having a root mean square error minor than 0.5. Major inconsistencies are located in mountainous regions such as the Alps or Scandinavia where both the methodologies suffer from insufficiently resolved land surface processes at the given spatial resolution, as well as from limited availability of satellite data on the one hand and the uncertainties in meteorological data retrieval on the other hand.


2013 ◽  
Vol 860-863 ◽  
pp. 2783-2786
Author(s):  
Yu Bing Dong ◽  
Hai Yan Wang ◽  
Ming Jing Li

Edge detection and thresholding segmentation algorithms are presented and tested with variety of grayscale images in different fields. In order to analyze and evaluate the quality of image segmentation, Root Mean Square Error is used. The smaller error value is, the better image segmentation effect is. The experimental results show that a segmentation method is not suitable for all images segmentation.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sibo Zhang ◽  
Jean-Christophe Calvet ◽  
José Darrozes ◽  
Nicolas Roussel ◽  
Frédéric Frappart ◽  
...  

Abstract. This work aims to assess the estimation of surface volumetric soil moisture (VSM) using the Global Navigation Satellite System Interferometric Reflectometry (GNSS-IR) technique. Year-round observations were acquired from a grassland site in southwestern France using an antenna consecutively placed at two contrasting heights above the ground surface (3.3 or 29.4 m). The VSM retrievals are compared with two independent reference datasets: in situ observations of soil moisture, and numerical simulations of soil moisture and vegetation biomass from the ISBA (Interactions between Soil, Biosphere and Atmosphere) land surface model. Scaled VSM estimates can be retrieved throughout the year removing vegetation effects by the separation of growth and senescence periods and by the filtering of the GNSS-IR observations that are most affected by vegetation. Antenna height has no significant impact on the quality of VSM estimates. Comparisons between the VSM GNSS-IR retrievals and the in situ VSM observations at a depth of 5 cm show a good agreement (R2 = 0.86 and RMSE = 0.04 m3 m−3). It is shown that the signal is sensitive to the grass litter water content and that this effect triggers differences between VSM retrievals and in situ VSM observations at depths of 1 cm and 5 cm, especially during light rainfall events.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 2998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Nencioli ◽  
Graham D. Quartly

Due to the smaller ground footprint and higher spatial resolution of the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) mode, altimeter observations from the Sentinel-3 satellites are expected to be overall more accurate in coastal areas than conventional nadir altimetry. The performance of Sentinel-3A in the coastal region of southwest England was assessed by comparing SAR mode observations of significant wave height against those of Pseudo Low Resolution Mode (PLRM). Sentinel-3A observations were evaluated against in-situ observations from a network of 17 coastal wave buoys, which provided continuous time-series of hourly values of significant wave height, period and direction. As the buoys are evenly distributed along the coast of southwest England, they are representative of a broad range of morphological configurations and swell conditions against which to assess Sentinel-3 SAR observations. The analysis indicates that SAR observations outperform PLRM within 15 km from the coast. Within that region, regression slopes between SAR and buoy observations are close to the 1:1 relation, and the average root mean square error between the two is 0.46 ± 0.14 m. On the other hand, regression slopes for PLRM observations rapidly deviate from the 1:1 relation, while the average root mean square error increases to 0.84 ± 0.45 m. The analysis did not identify any dependence of the bias between SAR and in-situ observation on the swell period or direction. The validation is based on a synergistic approach which combines satellite and in-situ observations with innovative use of numerical wave model output to help inform the choice of comparison regions. Such an approach could be successfully applied in future studies to assess the performance of SAR observations over other combinations of coastal regions and altimeters.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 1931-1946 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sibo Zhang ◽  
Jean-Christophe Calvet ◽  
José Darrozes ◽  
Nicolas Roussel ◽  
Frédéric Frappart ◽  
...  

Abstract. This work assesses the estimation of surface volumetric soil moisture (VSM) using the global navigation satellite system interferometric reflectometry (GNSS-IR) technique. Year-round observations were acquired from a grassland site in southwestern France using an antenna consecutively placed at two contrasting heights above the ground surface (3.3 and 29.4 m). The VSM retrievals are compared with two independent reference datasets: in situ observations of soil moisture, and numerical simulations of soil moisture and vegetation biomass from the ISBA (Interactions between Soil, Biosphere and Atmosphere) land surface model. Scaled VSM estimates can be retrieved throughout the year removing vegetation effects by the separation of growth and senescence periods and by the filtering of the GNSS-IR observations that are most affected by vegetation. Antenna height has no significant impact on the quality of VSM estimates. Comparisons between the VSM GNSS-IR retrievals and the in situ VSM observations at a depth of 5 cm show good agreement (R2= 0.86 and RMSE = 0.04 m3 m−3). It is shown that the signal is sensitive to the grass litter water content and that this effect triggers differences between VSM retrievals and in situ VSM observations at depths of 1 and 5 cm, especially during light rainfall events.


Jurnal Segara ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Indra Hermawan ◽  
Agus Setiawan ◽  
Nikita Pusparini

Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui pola distribusi konsentrasi klorofil-a di perairan Laut Maluku yang termasuk dalam Wilayah Pengelolaan Perikanan RI 715 berdasarkan data pengamatan in situ dan penginderaan jauh. Penelitian ini dilakukan pada bulan September 2016 dan merupakan bagian dari Pelayaran Oseanografi INDESO Joint Expedition Program (IJEP) 2016 yang dilaksanakan oleh Badan Penelitian dan Pengembangan Kelautan dan Perikanan (Balitbang KP) menggunakan Kapal Riset Baruna Jaya VIII. Berdasarkan hasil pengamatan in situ pada 8 titik pengamatan di sepanjang Laut Maluku dari selatan ke utara, didapatkan bahwa konsentrasi klorofil-a di permukaan berkisar antara 0,1 hingga 0,6 mg/m3. Hasil perbandingan antara konsentrasi klorofil-a hasil pengamatan in-situ dengan model biogeokimia INDESO dan citra satelit SeaWiFS masing-masing memberikan root mean square error sebesar 0,1507 dan 0,1364 mg/m3. Sementara itu, secara vertikal konsentrasi klorofil-a maksimum (antara 0,4 hingga 1 mg/m3) ditemukan pada kedalaman antara 17 hingga 61 meter, yaitu pada lapisan mixed layer.


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