Soil Moisture Impact on Lab Measured Reflectance of Bare Soils in the Optical Domain [0.4-15 µM]

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of surface soil moisture on the spectral reflectance in the optical domain [0.35 15 μm]. This work is based on lab spectral reflectance measurements of bare soils at different moisture contents. Knowledge of surface soil moisture is significant for many applications like trafficability after flood, ground – atmosphere exchanges and plant good health. Remote sensing data have several advantages over other in situ methods for monitoring surface soil moisture, like better temporal and spatial coverage [1]. Moreover, hyperspectral data composed by numerous and contiguous spectral bands provide the most detailed information. Thus, the opportunity of using such technique to retrieve the soil moisture is investigated.