Comparison between scatterometer data and a simulated surface hydrological model

This study illustrates the comparison of surface soil moisture data obtained from two different sources. They are produced by a coupled heat and moisture balance model that has been run to simulate the hydrological behaviour of the topsoil moisture content and by a microwave scatterometer whose data have been used to estimate the soil moisture content of the same top soil. The modeling predictions have been compared with the soil moisture retrieved from scatterometer data and with ground truth measurements. The results, which compare favourably, demonstrate the applicability of combining scatterometer derived data with an hydrological model