Journal article
Surface rock effects on soil moisture retrieval from L-band passive microwave observations
N Ye, JP Walker, C Rüdiger, D Ryu, RJ Gurney
Remote Sensing of Environment | ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC | Published : 2018
Abstract
The L-band (1.41 GHz) passive microwave remote sensing technique is the approach used by the first satellites dedicated to soil moisture measurement, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS), and the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). These satellites aim to provide global soil moisture maps for the top ~5 cm layer of soil with an accuracy better than 0.04 m3/m3. However, with a passive microwave observing resolution of ~40 km, non-soil targets such as surface rock may possibly confound the brightness temperature observations and degrade the accuracy of retrievals for many SMOS an..
View full abstractGrants
Awarded by Australian Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
This study has been conducted within the framework of the MoistureMap project funded by the Australian Research Council (DP0879212). Access and accommodation at Wirrangula Hill was provided by Trevor Williams of the Nilpinna cattle station and his hospitality is hereby gratefully acknowledged. The authors would also like to acknowledge the invaluable field work assistance of Mandi Allahmoradi, Justin Costelloe, Susan Hayes, Jon Johansson, Alan Marks, Vjeko Matic, Sandy Peischl, Peter Richardson, Graeme Tomlinson, and all participants of the field experiment in 2003. Hangar space for the research equipment at the Goober Pedy airport was provided by Opal Air. Contributions by Airborne Research Australia, Flinders University are also acknowledged.