Statistical methods to estimate soil moisture from L-band radiometry: application to the SMOSREX experiment over a fallow site

This paper is part of an ongoing study aimed at exploring the potential of biangular measurements at L band to estimate near surface soil moisture. A statistical approach based on a physical radiative transfer model is tested over a natural grassland. Soil moisture shows an encouraging correlation with a combination of brightness temperatures measurements performed at two different angles. Nevertheless, the assumptions involved into the definition of a valid statistical index need to be studied. For that purpose, an insight into the modeling of grassland L band emission is also presented