scholarly journals Using vegetation indices for soil-moisture retrievals from passive microwave radiometry

2001 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 671-678 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.J. Burke ◽  
W.J. Shuttleworth ◽  
A.N. French

Abstract. Surface soil moisture and the nature of the overlying vegetation both influence microwave emission from land surfaces significantly. One widely discussed but underused method for allowing for the effect of vegetation on soil-moisture retrievals from microwave observations is to use remotely sensed vegetation indices. This paper explores the potential for using the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in soil-moisture retrievals from L-band (1.4 GHz) aircraft data gathered during the Southern Great Plains '97 (SGP97) experiment. A simplified version of MICRO-SWEAT, a soil vegetation atmosphere transfer (SVAT) scheme coupled with a microwave emission model, was used as the retrieval algorithm. Estimates of the optical depth of the vegetation, the parameter that describes the effect of the vegetation on microwave emission, were obtained by calibrating this retrieval algorithm against measurements of soil moisture at 15 field sites. A significant relationship was found between the optical depth so obtained and the observed NDVI at these sites, although this relationship changed with the resolution of the microwave brightness temperature observations used. Soil-moisture estimates made with the retrieval algorithm using the empirical relationship between optical depth and NDVI applied at two additional sites not used in the calibration show good agreement with field measurements. Keywords: NDVI, soil moisture, passive microwave, SGP97

2001 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. J. Burke ◽  
L. P. Simmonds

Abstract. MICRO-SWEAT, a physically based soil water and energy balance model coupled with a microwave emission model, was used to investigate the relationship between near surface soil moisture (θ0-5) and L-band microwave brightness temperature (TB) under a wide range of conditions. The effects of soil texture, look angle and vegetation on this relationship were parameterised and combined into a simple summary model relating θ0-5 to TB. This model retains much of the physical basis of MICRO-SWEAT but can be used in more data limiting circumstances. It was tested using a variety of truck-based L-band data sets collected between 1980 and 1982. This paper emphasises the need to have an accurate estimate of the vegetation optical depth (a parameter that describes the degree of influence of the vegetation on the microwave emission from the soil surface) in order to retrieve correctly the soil water content. Keywords: passive microwave, soil moisture, remote sensing, vegetation, retrieval algorithm


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 1358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuai Huang ◽  
Jianli Ding ◽  
Bohua Liu ◽  
Xiangyu Ge ◽  
Jinjie Wang ◽  
...  

In the earth ecosystem, surface soil moisture is an important factor in the process of energy exchange between land and atmosphere, which has a strong control effect on land surface evapotranspiration, water migration, and carbon cycle. Soil moisture is particularly important in an oasis region because of its fragile ecological environment. Accordingly, a soil moisture retrieval model was conducted based on Dubois model and ratio model. Based on the Dubois model, the in situ soil roughness was used to simulate the backscattering coefficient of bare soil, and the empirical relationship was established with the measured soil moisture. The ratio model was used to eliminate the backscattering contribution of vegetation, in which three vegetation indices were used to characterize vegetation growth. The results were as follows: (1) the Dubois model was used to calibrate the unknown parameters of the ratio model and verified the feasibility of the ratio model to simulate the backscattering coefficient. (2) All three vegetation indices (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Vegetation Water Content (VWC), and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)) can represent the scattering characteristics of vegetation in an oasis region, but the VWC vegetation index is more suitable than the others. (3) Based on the Dubois model and ratio model, the soil moisture retrieval model was conducted, and the in situ soil moisture was used to analyze the accuracy of the simulated soil moisture, which found that the soil moisture retrieval accuracy is the highest under VWC vegetation index, and the coefficient of determination is 0.76. The results show that the soil moisture retrieval model conducted on the Dubois model and ratio model is feasible.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaoning Lv ◽  
Stefan Poll ◽  
Bernd Schalge ◽  
Pablo Garfias ◽  
Clemens Simmer

<p>Studies with satellite-based passive microwave L-band observations have been fostered strongly by the launch of NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite on January 31, 2015 (Entekhabi et al. 2010), which complements and extends the observations at L-band by the ESA's Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission in orbit since 2009 (Kerr et al. 2001, Mecklenburg et al. 2012, Lievens et al. 2014). SMOS and SMAP data assimilation studies started during their pre- and post-launch period. Flores et al. (2012) used an Ensemble Kalman Filter to constrain the uncertainties of the simulated soil moisture fields from physical-based hydrological models. Our work intends to explore the use and value of passive L-band satellite observations for ensemble-based data assimilation with fully-coupled terrestrial system models for mesoscale catchments. An observation operator for satellite-based passive microwave (PMW) observations based on the community microwave emission model (CMEM) (de Rosnay et al. 2009, Drusch et al. 2009) has been modified, applied and tested in an ideal case developed within the FOR2131 (Schalge et al. 2016) with the coupled subsurface-land surface-atmosphere simulation platform TerrSysMP (Shrestha et al. 2014), which couples ParFlow (subsurface), Community Land Model (CLM, surface), and COSMO (atmosphere). We achieve the development of a satellite simulator for passive L-band observations of the satellite missions SMAP and SMOS and its adaptation to the ideal case, and the lower-resolution TerrSysMP model applied for data assimilation (TerrSysMP-PDAF).</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Bousquet ◽  
Arnaud Mialon ◽  
Nemesio Rodriguez-Fernandez ◽  
Catherine Prigent ◽  
Fabien Wagner ◽  
...  

<p>Vegetation optical depth (VOD) is a remotely sensed indicator characterizing the attenuation of the Earth's thermal emission at microwave wavelengths by the vegetation layer. At L-band, VOD can be used to estimate and monitor aboveground biomass (AGB), a key component of the Earth's surface and of the carbon cycle. We observed a strong anti-correlation between SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) L-band VOD (L-VOD) and soil moisture (SM) anomalies over seasonally inundated areas, confirming previous observations of an unexpected decline in K-band VOD during flooding (Jones et al., 2011). These results could be, at least partially, due to artefacts affecting the retrieval and could lead to uncertainties on the derived L-VOD during flooding. To study the behaviour of SMOS satellite L-VOD retrieval algorithm over seasonally inundated areas, the passive microwave L-MEB (L-band Microwave Emission of the Biosphere) model was used to simulate the signal emitted by a mixed scene composed of soil and standing water. The retrieval over this inundated area shows an overestimation of SM and an underestimation of L-VOD. This underestimation increases non-linearly with the surface water fraction. The phenomenon is more pronounced over grasslands than over forests. The retrieved L-VOD is typically underestimated by ~10% over flooded forests and up to 100% over flooded grasslands. This is mainly due to the fact that i) low vegetation is mostly submerged under water and becomes invisible to the sensor; and ii) more standing water is seen by the sensor. Such effects can distort the analysis of aboveground biomass (AGB) and aboveground carbon (AGC) estimates and dynamics based on L-VOD. Using the L-VOD/AGB relationship from Rodriguez-Fernandez et al. (2018), we evaluated that AGB can be underestimated by 15/20<sup></sup>Mg ha<sup>-1</sup> in the largest wetlands, and up to higher values during exceptional meteorological years. Such values are more significant over herbaceous wetlands, where AGB is ~30 Mg ha<sup>-1</sup>, than over flooded forests, which have typical AGB values of 150-300 Mg ha<sup>-1</sup>. Consequently, to better estimate the global biomass, surface water seasonality has to be taken into account in passive microwave retrieval algorithms.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rumia Basu ◽  
Colin Brown ◽  
Patrick Tuohy ◽  
Eve Daly

<p>Soil drainage capacity is the degree and frequency at which the soil is free of saturation. It influences land use and management, soil nutrient cycling and greenhouse gas fluxes. Accurate information on drainage conditions is crucial for crop production and management and fundamental in developing strategies to adhere to environmental sustainability goals. This is particularly important in Ireland where approximately 50% of the soils are classified as “marginal”. These are mainly poorly drained soils which negatively impact plant growth and productivity.</p><p>Soil moisture acts as a proxy for drainage capacity. Timely and accurate information on soil moisture allows for precision management strategies. It aids in designing effective interventions on farms for artificial drainage works which are often assessed by information on soil moisture, soil type and hydrology. Such data are conventionally acquired by in-situ point sampling techniques which are costly and time consuming. Remote sensing has the potential to provide a solution by allowing simultaneous coverage of large geographic areas, quickly and in a cost effective manner.</p><p>This study uses optical remote sensing data from Sentinel 2 to derive information on soil moisture conditions on selected sites in Ireland.  We develop the OPTRAM model of Sadeghi et al (2017) by exploring the use of remote sensing based vegetation indices such as the Normalised Difference Vegetation index, Enhanced Vegetation Index and Normalised Difference Red Edge Index for the years 2015-2020 along with short wave transformed infrared reflectance to estimate soil moisture variations for our study areas. We show that  non-linear estimates of the wet and dry edge curves in the model are better suited for Ireland, which is dominated by wet conditions for most of the year and also identify the best vegetation indices for studying soil moisture variations.</p>


2018 ◽  
pp. 99 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Egea-Cobrero ◽  
V. Rodriguez-Galiano ◽  
E. Sánchez-Rodríguez ◽  
M.A. García-Pérez

<p>There is a relationship between net primary production of wheat and vegetation indices obtained from satellite imaging. Most wheat production studies use the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to estimate the production and yield of wheat and other crops. On the one hand, few studies use the MERIS Terrestrial Chlorophyll Index (MTCI) to determine crop yield and production on a regional level. This is possibly due to a lack of continuity of MERIS. On the other hand, the emergence of Sentinel 2 open new possibilities for the research and application of MTCI. This study has built two empirical models to estimate wheat production and yield in Andalusia. To this end, the study used the complete times series (weekly images from 2006–2011) of the MTCI vegetation index from the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) sensor associated with the Andalusian yearbook for agricultural and fishing statistics (AEAP—Anuario de estadísticas agrarias y pesqueras de Andalucía). In order to build these models, the optimal development period for the plant needed to be identified, as did the time-based aggregation of MTCI values using said optimal period as a reference, and relation with the index, with direct observations of production and yield through spatial aggregation using coverage from the Geographic Information System for Agricultural Parcels (SIGPAC—Sistema de información geográfica de parcelas agrícolas) and requests for common agricultural policy (CAP) assistance. The obtained results indicate a significant association between the MTCI index and the production and yield data collected by AEAP at the 95% confidence level (R<sup>2</sup> =0.81 and R<sup>2</sup> =0.57, respectively).</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 5955-5975
Author(s):  
Hai Zhang ◽  
Shobha Kondragunta ◽  
Istvan Laszlo ◽  
Mi Zhou

Abstract. The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) on board the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R (GOES-R) series enables retrieval of aerosol optical depth (AOD) from geostationary satellites using a multiband algorithm similar to those of polar-orbiting satellites' sensors, such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). However, this work demonstrates that the current version of GOES-16 (GOES-East) ABI AOD has diurnally varying biases due to limitations in the land surface reflectance relationships between the 0.47 µm band and the 2.2 µm band and between the 0.64 µm band and 2.2 µm band used in the ABI AOD retrieval algorithm, which vary with the Sun–satellite geometry and NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index). To reduce these biases, an empirical bias correction algorithm has been developed based on the lowest observed ABI AOD of an adjacent 30 d period and the background AOD at each time step and at each pixel. The bias correction algorithm improves the performance of ABI AOD compared to AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) AOD, especially for the high and medium (top 2) quality ABI AOD. AOD data for the period 6 August to 31 December 2018 are used to evaluate the bias correction algorithm. After bias correction, the correlation between the top 2 quality ABI AOD and AERONET AOD improves from 0.87 to 0.91, the mean bias improves from 0.04 to 0.00, and root-mean-square error (RMSE) improves from 0.09 to 0.05. These results for the bias-corrected top 2 qualities ABI AOD are comparable to those of the corrected high-quality ABI AOD. By using the top 2 qualities of ABI AOD in conjunction with the bias correction algorithm, the areal coverage of ABI AOD is increased by about 100 % without loss of data accuracy.


Author(s):  
S. Talebi ◽  
J. Shi ◽  
T. Zhao

This paper presents a theoretical study of derivation Microwave Vegetation Indices (MVIs) in different pairs of frequencies using two methods. In the first method calculating MVI in different frequencies based on Matrix Doubling Model (to take in to account multi scattering effects) has been done and analyzed in various soil properties. The second method was based on MVI theoretical basis and its independency to underlying soil surface signals. Comparing the results from two methods with vegetation properties (single scattering albedo and optical depth) indicated partial correlation between MVI from first method and optical depth, and full correlation between MVI from second method and vegetation properties. The second method to derive MVI can be used widely in global microwave vegetation monitoring.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 13019-13067
Author(s):  
A. Barella-Ortiz ◽  
J. Polcher ◽  
P. de Rosnay ◽  
M. Piles ◽  
E. Gelati

Abstract. L-Band radiometry is considered to be one of the most suitable techniques to estimate surface soil moisture by means of remote sensing. Brightness temperatures are key in this process, as they are the main input in the retrieval algorithm. The work exposed compares brightness temperatures measured by the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission to two different sets of modelled ones, over the Iberian Peninsula from 2010 to 2012. The latter were estimated using a radiative transfer model and state variables from two land surface models: (i) ORganising Carbon and Hydrology In Dynamic EcosystEms (ORCHIDEE) and (ii) Hydrology – Tiled ECMWF Scheme for Surface Exchanges over Land (H-TESSEL). The radiative transfer model used is the Community Microwave Emission Model (CMEM). A good agreement in the temporal evolution of measured and modelled brightness temperatures is observed. However, their spatial structures are not consistent between them. An Empirical Orthogonal Function analysis of the brightness temperature's error identifies a dominant structure over the South-West of the Iberian Peninsula which evolves during the year and is maximum in Fall and Winter. Hypotheses concerning forcing induced biases and assumptions made in the radiative transfer model are analysed to explain this inconsistency, but no candidate is found to be responsible for it at the moment. Further hypotheses are proposed at the end of the paper.


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