Evaluation of a global soil moisture product from finer spatial resolution sar data and ground measurements at Irish sites

Pratola, C., Barrett, B. , Gruber, A., Kiely, G. and Dwyer, E. (2014) Evaluation of a global soil moisture product from finer spatial resolution sar data and ground measurements at Irish sites. Remote Sensing, 2014(6), pp. 8190-8219. (doi: 10.3390/rs6098190)

Abstract

In the framework of the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative, a global, almost daily, soil moisture (SM) product is being developed from passive and active satellite microwave sensors, at a coarse spatial resolution. This study contributes to its validation by using finer spatial resolution ASAR Wide Swath and in situ soil moisture data taken over three sites in Ireland, from 2007 to 2009. This is the first time a comparison has been carried out between three sets of independent observations from different sensors at very different spatial resolutions for such a long time series. Furthermore, the SM spatial distribution has been investigated at the ASAR scale within each Essential Climate Variable (ECV) pixel, without adopting any particular model or using a densely distributed network of in situ stations. This approach facilitated an understanding of the extent to which geophysical factors, such as soil texture, terrain composition and altitude, affect the retrieved ECV SM product values in temperate grasslands. Temporal and spatial variability analysis provided high levels of correlation (p < 0.025) and low errors between the three datasets, leading to confidence in the new ECV SM global product, despite limitations in its ability to track the driest and wettest conditions.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Barrett, Dr Brian
• Authors: Pratola, C., Barrett, B., Gruber, A., Kiely, G., and Dwyer, E.
• Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GA Mathematical geography. Cartography; G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Geographical and Earth Sciences
• Journal Name: Remote Sensing
• Publisher: MDPI AG
• ISSN: 2072-4292
• ISSN (Online): 2072-4292
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2014 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Remote Sensing 2014(6):8190-8219
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License