This paper reports a study of algorithm development and testing for soil moisture retrieval for bare fields using L-band SAR imagery. First-order surface scattering models predict that the co-polarization ratio is sensitive to soil moisture but not to surface roughness. Our previous study indicated that the measurement of (Jvv / (Jhh at L-band is proportional to soil moisture. In this study, th...

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 h...

The spatial pattern of soil moisture varies at different scales due to evapo-transpiration and precipitation which are transformed by topography, soil texture, and vegetation. The mapping of soil moisture by remote sensing has several advantages over conventional field measurement techniques especially in the case of heterogeneous landscapes. However, validation of low resolution satellite soil...

the highest temperatures of the world are recorded in dry and warm climates. this can especially be observed in deserts, where vegetations and soil moisture are very low. as a result, the soil surface receives high thermal energy and its temperature rises up. the lut desert has the above characteristics, making it a suitable environment to prepare land surface temperature (lst) models. objectiv...

This paper addresses and documents a number of issues related to the implementation of an advanced land surface–hydrology model in the Penn State–NCAR fifth-generation Mesoscale Model (MM5). The concept adopted here is that the land surface model should be able to provide not only reasonable diurnal variations of surface heat fluxes as surface boundary conditions for coupled models, but also co...

An empirical algorithm for the retrieval of soil moisture content and surface Root Mean Square (RMS) height from remote.ly sensed radar data was developed using scatterorneter data. The algorithm is optimized for bare surfaces and requires two co-polarized channels at a frequency between 1.5 G1lz and 11 GHz. It gives best results for kh <2.5, p, < 35% and 0230° Omitting the usually weaker hv-po...

Monitoring soil moisture dynamics from local to global scales is essential for a wide range of applications. The field of remote sensing of soil moisture has expanded greatly and the first dedicated soil moisture satellite missions (SMOS, SMAP) were launched, and new missions, such as SENTINEL-1 provide long-term perspectives for land surface monitoring. This special issue aims to summarize the...

the accuracy and effectiveness of precision agriculture is highly depending on accuracy and time analysis of the soil moisture conditions. monitoring of the soil water status is a proper method for optimizing the agricultural irrigation. automation irrigation, based on soil moisture measurement by smart sensors has the potential to provide maximum water use efficiency by maintaining soil moistu...