Title :
Large-Area Soil Moisture Estimation Using Multi-Incidence-Angle RADARSAT-1 SAR Data
Author :
Srivastava, Hari Shanker ; Patel, Parul ; Sharma, Yamini ; Navalgund, Ranganath R.
Author_Institution :
Regional Remote Sensing Service Centre, Indian Space Res. Organ., Dehradun, India
Abstract :
The sensitivity of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) backscatter to soil moisture has been adequately established. However, monitoring of soil moisture over large agricultural areas is still difficult because SAR backscatter is also sensitive to other target properties like surface roughness, crop cover, and soil texture (soil type), along with its strong sensitivity to soil moisture. Hence, to develop a methodology for large-area soil moisture estimation using SAR, it is necessary to incorporate the effects of surface roughness, crop cover, and soil texture in the soil moisture retrieval model. In this paper, a methodology for soil moisture estimation over a large area is developed using a pair of low- and high-incidence-angle RADARSAT-1 SAR data over parts of Agra, Mathura, and Bharatpur districts, India, during March 1999. The methodology requires acquisition of synthetic aperture radar data at low and high incidence angles, such that the soil moisture changes are negligible between the two acquisitions. In order to demonstrate the applicability of the developed methodology, the same was validated over a different area (parts of Saharanpur and Haridwar districts, India) during March 2005. Both test sites provided the variety of agricultural heterogeneity required for development and validation of the methodology for large-area soil moisture estimation. The proposed methodology offers an approach to incorporate the effects of surface roughness, crop cover, and soil texture in the soil moisture retrieval model from the space platform, without making any assumptions on the distributions of these parameters or without knowing the actual values of these parameters on ground.
Keywords :
data acquisition; hydrological techniques; moisture; remote sensing by radar; soil; synthetic aperture radar; AD 1999 03; AD 2005 03; Agra district; Bharatpur district; Haridwar district; India; Mathura district; Saharanpur district; agricultural areas; crop cover; data acquisition; multi-incidence-angle RADARSAT-1 SAR data; soil moisture estimation; soil moisture retrieval model; soil texture; soil type; surface roughness; synthetic aperture radar backscatter; Crop cover; RADARSAT-1 SAR; multi-incidence-angle SAR; soil moisture; soil texture; surface roughness; synthetic aperture radar (SAR);
Journal_Title :
Geoscience and Remote Sensing, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TGRS.2009.2018448