C-band radar data and in situ measurements for the monitoring of wheat crops in a semi-arid area (center of Morocco)

Abstract. A better understanding of the hydrological functioning irrigated crops using remote sensing observations is prime importance in semi-arid areas where water resources are limited. Radar observations, available at high resolution and with a revisit time since launch Sentinel-1 2014, have shown great potential for monitoring content upper soil canopy. In this paper, complete set data radar signal analysis shared scientific community first to our knowledge. The composed products situ measurements vegetation variables collected during three agricultural seasons over drip-irrigated winter wheat Haouz plain Morocco. gather (time series half-hourly surface moisture, roughness practices) every week/2 weeks including aboveground fresh dry biomasses, based on destructive measurements, cover fraction, leaf area index, plant height. backscattering coefficient interferometric coherence derived from GRDH (Ground Range Detected High Resolution) SLC (Single Look Complex) products, respectively. normalized difference index Sentinel-2 Level-2A (surface reflectance cloud mask) atmospheric-effects-corrected also provided. This database, which its kind made open access, described here comprehensively order help evaluate develop new or existing algorithms canopy under conditions. particularly relevant development applications moisture variable retrieval either physically empirical approaches such as machine deep learning algorithms. database archived DataSuds repository freely accessible via following DOI: https://doi.org/10.23708/8D6WQC (Ouaadi et al., 2020a).