Validation of ERS scatterometer-derived soil moisture data in the central part of the Duero Basin, Spain

✍ Scribed by Antonio Ceballos; Klaus Scipal; Wolfgang Wagner; José Martínez-Fernández

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 227 KB
• Volume: 19
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6087
• DOI: 10.1002/hyp.5585

✦ Synopsis

The objective of this study was to validate the soil moisture data derived from coarse-resolution active microwave data (50 km) from the ERS scatterometer. The retrieval technique is based on a change detection method coupled with a data-based modelling approach to account for seasonal vegetation dynamics. The technique is able to derive information about the soil moisture content corresponding to the degree of saturation of the topmost soil layer (¾5 cm). To estimate profile soil moisture contents down to 100 cm depth from the scatterometer data, a simple two-layer water balance model is used, which generates a red noise-like soil moisture spectrum. The retrieval technique had been successfully applied in the Ukraine in a previous study. In this paper, the performance of the model in a semi-arid Mediterranean environment characterized by low annual precipitation (400 mm), hot dry summers and sandy soils is investigated. To this end, field measurements from the REMEDHUS soil moisture station network in the semi-arid parts of the Duero Basin (Spain) were used. The results reveal a significant coefficient of determination R 2 D 0Ð75 for the averaged 0-100 cm soil moisture profile and a root mean square error (RMSE) of 2Ð2 vol%. The spatial arrangement of the REMEDHUS soil moisture stations also allowed us to study the influence of the small-scale variability of soil moisture within the ERS scatterometer footprint. The results show that the small-scale variability in the study area is modest and can be explained in terms of texture fraction distribution in the soil profiles.