Title :
Soil moisture measurement and retrieval using Envisat ASAR imagery
Author :
Li, Zhen ; Ren, Xin ; Li, Xinwu ; Wang, Lei
Author_Institution :
Inst. of Remote Sensing Applications, Chinese Acad. of Sci., Beijing, China
Abstract :
High resolution data of the ASAR sensor aboard ESA´s Envisat satellite offers the opportunity for monitoring surface soil moisture at high spatial resolution with multi-polarization and multi-incidence capabilities. Using Integral Equation Model (IEM), we simulated the backscattering coefficients of C band SAR backscatter at different incidence angles and the alternating polarization mode, and analyzed the sensitivity to soil moisture. The algorithm of inferring surface soil moisture from radar backscatter is developed according to semi-empirical model from the results of simulation and sensitivity analysis. The soil moisture map are retrieved from ASAR backscatter measurements in Hetian, Xinjinag (37°15´N, 79°48´E) area, where are the arid and semi-arid area of west China. Accuracy in the retrieval of the surface moisture content from ASAR is compared to the spatially distributed ground truth. The results demonstrate the effects of soil moisture monitoring using multi-polarization multi-incidence ASAR data.
Keywords :
artificial satellites; backscatter; data acquisition; hydrological techniques; moisture measurement; radar imaging; remote sensing by radar; soil; synthetic aperture radar; C band SAR backscatter; Envisat ASAR imagery; Xinjiang area; artificial satellite; backscattering coefficients; integral equation model; multiincidence; multipolarization; soil moisture; synthetic aperture radar; west China; Analytical models; Backscatter; Image retrieval; Moisture measurement; Monitoring; Satellites; Soil measurements; Soil moisture; Spatial resolution; Surface soil;
Conference_Titel :
Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2004. IGARSS '04. Proceedings. 2004 IEEE International
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-8742-2
DOI :
10.1109/IGARSS.2004.1370474