The potential of the ERS-1/2 scatterometer global soil moisture product has been shown in several studies. The ASCAT sensor on-board the METOP satellite is extending the 16 year time series of the ERS-1/2 scatterometer as a source for extracting information for ocean and land applications. Calibrated ASCAT data will continue the scatterometer global soil moisture archive while improving both th...

This study addresses the issue of the variability and heterogeneity problems that are expected from a sensor with a larger footprint having homogenous and heterogeneous sub-pixels. Improved understanding of spatial variability of soil surface characteristics such as land cover and vegetation in larger footprint are critical in remote sensing based soil moisture retrieval. This study analyzes th...

Active microwave remote sensing observations hold the potential for efficient and reliable mapping of spatial soil moisture distributions. However, soil moisture retrievals from microwave remote sensing techniques are typically complex because of the inherent difficulty in characterizing the interactions among land surface parameters that contribute to the retrieval process. Therefore adequate ...

Abstract. Rangeland vegetation dynamics encompass all processes of changes in vegetation composition and structure over time. Investigating the rangeland ecosystem dynamics makes it possible to determine the effects of climatic and management conditions on qualitative and quantitative changes of the vegetation in a specific period of time. Accordingly, data collection and measurements for evalu...

infiltration rate of water into the soil depends on the factors such as rock and litter cover, canopy cover, rainfall intensity, coarse material, land slope, soil texture and amount of initial soil moisture. the most important factors that are effective in the water infiltration rate of rangelands are livestock trampling and vegetation reduction due to the overgrazing. in present study, through...

abstract this paper presents a quantitative account of vegetation–environmental factor relationships in arid rangelands. vegetation cover was recorded using braun-blanquet combined abundance-cover scale in each quadrat. within each quadrat, one profile was dug and soil samples being taken at 0-20cm and 20-100cm depths. under study physical-chemical characteristics included texture, lime, organi...

Surface soil moisture is a key variable used to describe water and energy exchanges at the land surface/atmosphere interface. Passive microwave remotely sensed data have great potential for providing estimates of soil moisture with good temporal repetition on a daily basis and on a regional scale (f 10 km). However, the effects of vegetation cover, soil temperature, snow cover, topography, and ...

Recent regional climate-change models indicated significant changes in the temporal and spatial distribution of rainfall in the Mediterranean-Basin region. Understanding the consequences of rainfall alterations for soil respiration and carbon processing in these regions is essential, considering their crucial functions for soil fertility and ecosystem functioning. Our aim was to evaluate the ef...