Soil moisture retrieval by remote sensing and multi-year trend analysis of the soil moisture in Tibetan Plateau

In this paper, a hybrid algorithm of retrieving soil moisture is developed. This method assembles the single channel algorithm (SCA) and the Qp-model based soil moisture inversion algorithm. The new algorithm does not require soil surface roughness parameter. The accuracy evaluation of algorithm shows that the new method can provide accurate soil moisture estimate in Tibetan Plateau (TP). Based on eight years (2003~2010) soil moisture data, multi-year changing trend of soil moisture of the TP is analyzed. The spatial pattern of soil moisture changing trend basically coincides with the trend of precipitation of the meteorological sites.