Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Airborne and Spaceborne Passive Microwave Measurements of Soil Moisture

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Observation and Measurement of Ecohydrological Processes

Part of the book series: Ecohydrology ((ECOH))

  • 251 Accesses

Abstract

Soil moisture is the key variable that controls the surface water movements including infiltration, evapotranspiration, and groundwater recharge. It is one of the most important surface conditions of the exchange processes between land and atmosphere. Microwave remote sensing provides an efficient way to map surface soil moisture at a large scale from space and has achieved rapid development especially in large aperture systems at L-band. This chapter describes the basic theory and methodology for retrieving surface soil moisture including the soil roughness and vegetation effects. Special cases of soil moisture estimates from airborne and spaceborne measurements are presented. Results demonstrated that multichannel (multi-angle or multifrequency) microwave observations can be combined to enhance the retrieval accuracy and spatial resolution of remote sensed soil moisture.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • R. Bindlish, T. Jackson, M. Cosh, T. Zhao, P. O’Neill, Global soil moisture from the aquarius/SAC-D satellite: description and initial assessment. IEEE Geosci. Remote Sens. Lett. 12, 923–927 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • K.S. Chen, T.D. Wu, L. Tsang, Q. Li, Emission of rough surfaces calculated by the integral equation method with comparison to three-dimensional moment method simulations. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 41, 90–101 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • L. Chen, J. Shi, J.-P. Wigneron, K.-S. Chen, A parameterized surface emission model at L-band for soil moisture retrieval. IEEE Geosci. Remote Sens. Lett. 7, 127–130 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Q. Cui, J. Shi, J. Du, T. Zhao, C. Xiong, An approach for monitoring global vegetation based on multiangular observations From SMOS. IEEE J. Sel. Top. Appl. Earth Obs. Remote Sens. 8, 604–616 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Q. Cui, X. Dong, J. Shi, T. Zhao, C. Xiong, An algorithm for retrieving soil moisture using L-band H-polarized multiangular brightness temperature data. IEEE Geosci. Remote Sens. Lett. 13, 1295–1299 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • A. Della Vecchia, P. Ferrazzoli, F. Giorgio, L. Guerriero, A large scale approach to estimate L band emission from forest covered surfaces, in Proceedings of 2nd Recent Advances in Quantitative Remote Sensing (2006), pp. 925–930

    Google Scholar 

  • M.C. Dobson, F.T. Ulaby, M.T. Hallikainen, M.A. Elrayes, Microwave dielectric behavior of wet soil. 2. Dielectric mixing models. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 23, 35–46 (1985)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • D. Entekhabi, E.G. Njoku, P.E. O’Neill, K.H. Kellogg, W.T. Crow, W.N. Edelstein, J.K. Entin, S.D. Goodman, T.J. Jackson, J. Johnson, J. Kimball, J.R. Piepmeier, R.D. Koster, N. Martin, K.C. McDonald, M. Moghaddam, S. Moran, R. Reichle, J.C. Shi, M.W. Spencer, S.W. Thurman, L. Tsang, J. Van Zyl, The soil moisture active passive (SMAP) mission. Proc. IEEE 98, 704–716 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • M.J. Escorihuela, Y.H. Kerr, P. De Rosnay, J.-P. Wigneron, J.-C. Calvet, F. Lemaitre, A simple model of the bare soil microwave emission at L-band. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 45, 1978–1987 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • P. Ferrazzoli, L. Guerriero, J.P. Wigneron, Simulating L-band emission of forests in view of future satellite applications. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 40, 2700–2708 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • A.K. Fung, M.R. Shah, S. Tjuatja, Numerical-simulation of scattering from 3-dimensional randomly rough surfaces. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 32, 986–994 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J.P. Grant, K. Saleh-Contell, J.-P. Wigneron, M. Guglielmetti, Y.H. Kerr, M. Schwank, N. Skou, A.A. Van de Griend, Calibration of the L-MEB model over a coniferous and a deciduous forest. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 46, 808–818 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • P. Guo, J. Shi, Q. Liu, J. Du, A new algorithm for soil moisture retrieval with L-band radiometer. IEEE J. Sel. Top. Appl. Earth Obs. Remote Sens. 6, 1147–1155 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • T.J. Jackson, Measuring surface soil-moisture using passive microwave remote-sensing. 3. Hydrol. Process. 7, 139–152 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • T.J. Jackson, T.J. Schmugge, Vegetation effects on the microwave emission of soils. Remote Sens. Environ. 36, 203–212 (1991)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • T.J. Jackson, M.H. Cosh, R. Bindlish, P.J. Starks, D.D. Bosch, M. Seyfried, D.C. Goodrich, M.S. Moran, J. Du, Validation of advanced microwave scanning radiometer soil moisture products. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 48, 4256–4272 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • T.J. Jackson, R. Bindlish, M.H. Cosh, T. Zhao, P.J. Starks, D.D. Bosch, M. Seyfried, M.S. Moran, D.C. Goodrich, Y.H. Kerr, D. Leroux, Validation of soil moisture and ocean salinity (SMOS) soil moisture over watershed networks in the U.S. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 50, 1530–1543 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Y.H. Kerr, P. Waldteufel, J.-P. Wigneron, S. Delwart, F. Cabot, J. Boutin, M.-J. Escorihuela, J. Font, N. Reul, C. Gruhier, S.E. Juglea, M.R. Drinkwater, A. Hahne, M. Martín-Neira, S. Mecklenburg, The SMOS mission: new tool for monitoring key elements of the global water cycle. Proc. IEEE 98, 666–687 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Y.H. Kerr, P. Waldteufel, P. Richaume, J.P. Wigneron, P. Ferrazzoli, A. Mahmoodi, A. Al Bitar, F. Cabot, C. Gruhier, S.E. Juglea, D. Leroux, A. Mialon, S. Delwart, The SMOS soil moisture retrieval algorithm. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 50, 1384–1403 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • M. Kurum, P.E. O’Neill, R.H. Lang, A.T. Joseph, M.H. Cosh, T.J. Jackson, Effective tree scattering and opacity at L-band. Remote Sens. Environ. 118, 1–9 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • H. Lawrence, J.-P. Wigneron, F. Demontoux, A. Mialon, Y.H. Kerr, Evaluating the semiempirical H-Q model used to calculate the L-band emissivity of a rough bare soil. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 51, 4075–4084 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • D.M. Le Vine, G.S.E. Lagerloef, F.R. Colomb, S.H. Yueh, F.A. Pellerano, Aquarius: an instrument to monitor sea surface salinity from space. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 45, 2040–2050 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • A. Mialon, J.-P. Wigneron, P. de Rosnay, M. Jose Escorihuela, Y.H. Kerr, Evaluating the L-MEB model from long-term microwave measurements over a rough field, SMOSREX 2006. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 50, 1458–1467 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • V.L. Mironov, L.G. Kosolapova, S.V. Fomin, Physically and mineralogically based spectroscopic dielectric model for moist soils. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 47, 2059–2070 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • T. Mo, T.J. Schmugge, A parameterization of the effect of surface-roughness on microwave emission. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 25, 481–486 (1987)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • E.G. Njoku, S.K. Chan, Vegetation and surface roughness effects on AMSR-E land observations. Remote Sens. Environ. 100, 190–199 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J.A. Ogilvy, J.R. Foster, Rough surfaces-gaussian or exponential statistics. J. Phys. D Appl. Phys. 22, 1243–1251 (1989)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • S.S. Saatchi, N.L. Harris, S. Brown, M. Lefsky, E.T. Mitchard, W. Salas, B.R. Zutta, W. Buermann, S.L. Lewis, S. Hagen, S. Petrova, L. White, M. Silman, A. Morel, Benchmark map of forest carbon stocks in tropical regions across three continents. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 108, 9899–9904 (2011)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • M. Schwank, I. Voelksch, J.-P. Wigneron, Y.H. Kerr, A. Mialon, P. de Rosnay, C. Maetzler, Comparison of two bare-soil reflectivity models and validation with L-band radiometer measurements. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 48, 325–337 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J. Shi, J. Wang, A.Y. Hsu, P.E. O’Neill, E.T. Engman, Estimation of bare surface soil moisture and surface roughness parameter using L-band SAR image data. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 35, 1254–1266 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J.C. Shi, L.M. Jiang, L.X. Zhang, K.S. Chen, J.P. Wigneron, A. Chanzy, A parameterized multifrequency-polarization surface emission model. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 43, 2831–2841 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J. Shi, T. Jackson, J. Tao, J. Du, R. Bindlish, L. Lu, K.S. Chen, Microwave vegetation indices for short vegetation covers from satellite passive microwave sensor AMSR-E. Remote Sens. Environ. 112, 4285–4300 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J. Shi, X. Dong, T. Zhao, J. Du, L. Jiang, Y. Du, H. Liu, Z. Wang, D. Ji, C. Xiong, WCOM: the science scenario and objectives of a global water cycle observation mission, in 2014 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), IEEE International Symposium on Geoscience and Remote Sensing IGARSS (IEEE, New York, 2014), pp. 3646–3649

    Google Scholar 

  • A.B.. Smith, J.P. Walker, A.W. Western, R.I. Young, K.M. Ellett, R.C. Pipunic, R.B. Grayson, L. Siriwardena, F.H.S. Chiew, H. Richter, The Murrumbidgee soil moisture monitoring network data set. Water Resour. Res. 48, 7701 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  • F.T. Ulaby, F. Kouyate, A.K. Fung, A.J. Sieber, A backscatter model for a randomly perturbed periodic surface. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 20, 518–528 (1982a)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • F.T. Ulaby, A. Aslam, M.C. Dobson, Effects of vegetation cover on the radar sensitivity to soil-moisture. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 20, 476–481 (1982b)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • A.A. Van de Griend, J.P. Wigneron, The b-factor as a function of frequency and canopy type at H-polarization. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 42, 786–794 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • N.E.C. Verhoest, H. Lievens, W. Wagner, J. Alvarez-Mozos, M.S. Moran, F. Mattia, On the soil roughness parameterization problem in soil moisture retrieval of bare surfaces from synthetic aperture radar. Sensors 8, 4213–4248 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J.R. Wang, B.J. Choudhury, Remote-sensing of soil-moisture content over bare field at 1.4 GHz frequency. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 86, 5277–5282 (1981)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J.R. Wang, T.J. Schmugge, An empirical-model for the complex dielectric permittivity of soils as a funcion of water-content. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 18, 288–295 (1980)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J.P. Wigneron, L. Laguerre, Y.H. Kerr, A simple parameterization of the L-band microwave emission from rough agricultural soils. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 39, 1697–1707 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J.P. Wigneron, Y. Kerr, P. Waldteufel, K. Saleh, M.J. Escorihuela, P. Richaume, P. Ferrazzoli, P. de Rosnay, R. Gurney, J.C. Calvet, J.P. Grant, M. Guglielmetti, B. Hornbuckle, C. Mätzler, T. Pellarin, M. Schwank, L-band microwave emission of the biosphere (L-MEB) model: description and calibration against experimental data sets over crop fields. Remote Sens. Environ. 107, 639–655 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • T. Zhao, J. Shi, R. Bindlish, T.J. Jackson, M. Cosh, L. Jiang, Z. Zhang, H. Lan, Parametric exponentially correlated surface emission model for L-band passive microwave soil moisture retrieval. Phys. Chem. Earth 83–84, 65–74 (2015a)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • T.J. Zhao, J.C. Shi, R. Bindlish, T.J. Jackson, Y.H. Kerr, M.H. Cosh, Q. Cui, Y.Q. Li, C. Xiong, T. Che, Refinement of SMOS multi-angular brightness temperature toward soil moisture retrieval and its analysis over reference targets. IEEE J. Sel. Top. Appl. Earth Obs. Remote Sens. 8, 589–603 (2015b)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • M. Zribi, A. Gorrab, N. Baghdadi, A new soil roughness parameter for the modelling of radar backscattering over bare soil. Remote Sens. Environ. 152, 62–73 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China

    Jiancheng Shi, Tianjie Zhao, Qian Cui & Panpan Yao

Authors
  1. Jiancheng Shi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tianjie Zhao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Qian Cui
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Panpan Yao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jiancheng Shi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Cold and Arid Region Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China

    Xin Li

  2. Institute of Bio- and Geosciences Agrosphere, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Harry Vereecken

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Shi, J., Zhao, T., Cui, Q., Yao, P. (2018). Airborne and Spaceborne Passive Microwave Measurements of Soil Moisture. In: Li, X., Vereecken, H. (eds) Observation and Measurement of Ecohydrological Processes. Ecohydrology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-47871-4_3-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-47871-4_3-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-47871-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-47871-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation