Abstract
A physically based retrieval scheme is described toinfer near surface moisture content of bare soilpatches from time series of the Special SensorMicrowave/Imager (SSM/I) Polarisation DifferenceTemperature (PDT) at 19.35 GHz. The PDT is modelled asa function of soil moisture using Fresnel's relationsfor specular reflection at the air-soil boundary,together with a dielectric mixing model for themoisture-dependent soil dielectric constant. Theproblem of the specification of parameters describingatmospheric and soil roughness effects is avoided byconsidering temporal variations of the PDT. Theretrieval method is applied to the FIFE site for atwo-week period in summer, during which heavy rainfalloccurred on a dry upper soil. Although differences insensing depths made a rigorous validation impossible,remotely sensed soil moisture showed a high degree ofconsistency with ground measurements. An erroranalysis shows that the method is capable of providingan accuracy of approximately 20% of moisture contentat field capacity. Finally, it is demonstrated thatthe method is relatively insensitive to soil texturalcharacteristics when moisture content is scaled withfield capacity.
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De Ridder, K. Quantitative estimation of skin soil moisture with the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager. Boundary-Layer Meteorology 96, 421–432 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1002668624711
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1002668624711