The Role of Remotely Sensed Soil Moisture to Predict Surface Water Elevation at the Watershed Scale in Korea

Soil moisture is one of the most important key physical parameters in hydrological and environmental processes. During the past decade, remote sensing measurements have been widely used to provide mean surface soil moisture on a large spatial scale because conventional ground based measurements are not always available and require more time and cost. However, very few studies have been conducted to estimate the potential of remotely sensed soil moisture to correlate with hydrological processes. This study identified that remotely sensed soil moisture data, Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer E (AMSR-E), had a reasonable relationship with surface water elevation after statistical scaling. Simple regression models as a function of soil moisture were developed to predict surface water elevation. This study identified the potential of remotely sensed soil moisture to better understand hydrological processes.