Temporal and spatial soil moisture change pattern detection using multi-temporal Radarsat SCANSAR images

The research has been done to derive the soil moisture information at local scale by using single polarization, single frequency sensors such as ERS-1/2, Radarsat, and JERS-1. There is a need to develop a technique to estimate soil moisture information from these currently available data sources at both regional and local scales. In this study, a soil moisture change detection algorithm was developed for using the multi-temporal 50m resolution Radarsat SCANSAR image data. It was based on the theory model analysis results, with the correction of vegetation and incident angle effects. The relative soil moisture change value can be derived. The results were compared with in-situ measured soil moisture data from 3 different sampling sites at study area. The validation indicated our algorithm with RMSE error of 0.44 in estimating soil moisture change ratio.