SURFACE SOIL MOISTURE FROM SATELLITE ALTIMETRY - FROM CRYOSAT2 TO SENTINEL3

摘要

Measuring surface soil moisture using satellite radarrnaltimetry is a comparatively novel application. Detailedrnmodels of surface brightness, regressed to dry earthrnconditions, are combined with multi-missionrnrecalibrated backscatter to yield time series of surfacernsoil moisture. This method can be utilized wherever thernsurface is dry for at least part of each year; thus therncurrent application is over desert and semi-arid terrainrnwhere other remote sensing techniques encounterrndifficulties. Re-crafting these models for Cryosat2 hasrnachieved model coherence better than 0.3dB.rnThis paper presents results from surface soil moisturernmeasurements from Cryosat2 data over desert surfacesrnin both SAR and LRM modes. The spatial resolutionrnthat can be achieved with Cryosat2 data is discussed,rnand results from both SAR and LRM mode are used tornconfirm the potential of this technique to retrievernsurface soil moisture from Sentinel3 altimeterrnwaveforms.