Estimation of the Root-Zone Soil Moisture Using Passive Microwave Remote Sensing and SMAR Model
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 1
Abstract
Estimation of root-zone soil moisture (RZSM) at regional scales is a critical issue in surface hydrology that could be a great help for estimating evapotranspiration, erosion, runoff, and irrigation requirements, etc. A significant number of satellites [soil moisture and ocean salinity (SMOS), special sensor microwave imager (SSM/I), advanced microwave scanning radiometer-EOS (AMSR-E), tropical rainfall measuring mission/microwave imager (TRMM/TMI), etc.] retrieve surface soil moisture (SSM) using passive microwave remote sensing. This information can be used to derive RZSM using a new mathematical filter. In particular, the recently developed soil moisture analytical relationship (SMAR) can relate the surface soil moisture to the moisture of deeper layer using a relationship derived from a soil water balance equation where infiltration is estimated based on the relative fluctuations of soil moisture in the surface soil layer. In the present paper, the SMAR model is tested on two research databases in Africa and North America [African monsoon multidisciplinary analysis (AMMA) and soil climate analysis network (SCAN), respectively], where field measurements at different depths are available. Furthermore, the TRMM/TMI Satellite is selected to retrieve the satellite SSM data of the studied regions using the land parameter retrieval model (LPRM). Both remotely sensed SSM and field measurements are used within the SMAR model to explore their ability in reproducing the RZSM and also to explore the existing difference in model parameterization moving from one dataset to the other. The SMAR model is applied using three different schemes: (1) with parameters calibrated using surface field measurements, (2) with parameters calibrated using remotely sensed SSM as input, and finally (3) using the remotely sensed SSM with the same parameters calibrated in Scheme 1. In all cases, SMAR parameters have been calibrated using a genetic algorithm optimizing the root-mean square error (RMSE) between SMAR prediction and measured RZSM. The results show that remotely sensed data may be coupled with the SMAR model to provide a good description of RZSM dynamics, but it requires a specific parameterization respect to Scheme 1. Nevertheless, it is surprising to observe that two of the four parameters of the model related to the soil texture are relatively stable moving from remote-sensed to field data.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Ferdowsi University of Mashhad for granting this research under No. 31317. The second author thanks Dr. Salvatore Manfreda and University of Basilicata for the opportunity for cooperation. Finally authors wish to acknowledge the valuable comments from the editor and anonymous reviewers for their comments, which improved this paper.
References
AMMA: AMMA-CATCH. (2014). “Hydrological and meteorological observatory on West Africa.” 〈http://www.amma-catch.org〉 (Dec. 2014).
Baldwin, D., Manfreda, S., Keller, K., and Smithwick, E. A. H. (2016). “Predicting root zone soil moisture with soil properties and satellite near-surface moisture data at locations across the United States.” J. Hydrol., in press.
Bindlish, R., et al. (2003). “Soil moisture estimates from TRMM microwave imager observations over the southern United States.” Remote Sens. Environ., 85(4), 507–515.
Brocca, L., et al. (2010). “Improving runoff prediction through the assimilation of the ASCAT soil moisture product.” Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 14(10), 1881–1893.
Cashion, J., Lakshmi, V., Bosch, D., and Jackson, T. J. (2005). “Microwave remote sensing of soil moisture: Evaluation of the TRMM microwave imager (TMI) satellite for the Little River Watershed Tifton, Georgia.” J. Hydrol., 307(1), 242–253.
Crow, S., Eisenberg, M. E., Story, M., and Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2008). “Are body dissatisfaction, eating disturbance, and body mass index predictors of suicidal behavior in adolescents? A longitudinal study.” J. Consulting Clin. Psychol., 76(5), 887.
De Jeu, R. A., Holmes, T. R., Parinussa, R. M., and Owe, M. (2014). “A spatially coherent global soil moisture product with improved temporal resolution.” J. Hydrol., 516, 284–296.
De Jeu, R. A. M., and Owe, M. (2003). “Further validation of a new methodology for surface moisture and vegetation optical depth retrieval.” Int. J. Remote Sens., 24(22), 4559–4578.
De Lange, R., Beck, R., Van De Giesen, N., Friesen, J., De Wit, A., and Wagner, W. (2008). “Scatterometer-derived soil moisture calibrated for soil texture with a onedimensional water-flow model.” IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 46, 4041–4049.
Dorigo, W. A., et al. (2011). “The international soil moisture network: A data hosting facility for global in situ soil moisture measurements.” Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 15(5), 1675–1698.
Goldberg, D. E. (1989). Genetic algorithms in search, optimization, and machine learning, Addison-Wesley Professional, Reading, MA.
Green, W. H., and Ampt, G. A. (1911). “Studies on soil phyics.” J. Agric. Sci., 4(01), 1–24.
Holmes, T. R. H., De Jeu, R. A. M., Owe, M., and Dolman, A. J. (2009). “Land surface temperature from Ka band (37 GHz) passive microwave observations.” J. Geophys. Res.: Atmos., 114, D04113.
Iacobellis, V., Gioia, A., Milella, P., Satalino, G., Balenzano, A., and Mattia, F. (2013). “Inter-comparison of hydrological model simulations with time series of SAR-derived soil moisture maps.” Eur. J. Remote Sens., 46(1), 739–757.
ISMN (International Soil Moisture Network). (2016). 〈http://ismn.geo.tuwien.ac.at〉.
Jackson, T. J. (1993). “Measuring surface soil moisture using passive microwave remote sensing.” Hydrol. Process., 7(2), 139–152.
Kerr, Y. H., Waldteufel, P., Wigneron, J. P., Martinuzzi, J., Font, J., and Berger, M. (2001). “Soil moisture retrieval from space: The soil moisture and ocean salinity (SMOS) mission.” IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 39(8), 1729–1735.
Liu, Z., Ostrenga, D., Teng, W., and Kempler, S. (2012). “Tropical rainfall measuring mission (TRMM) precipitation data and services for research and applications.” BAMS, 93(9), 1317–1325.
Liu, Z., Ostrenga, D., Teng, W., Kempler, S., and Milich, L. (2014). “Developing GIOVANNI-based online prototypes to intercompare TRMM-related global gridded-precipitation products.” Comput. Geosci., 66, 168–181.
Manfreda, S., Brocca, L., Moramarco, T., Melone, F., and Sheffield, J. (2014). “A physically based approach for the estimation of root-zone soil moisture from surface measurements.” Earth Syst. Sci., 18(3), 1199–1212.
Manfreda, S., Scanlon, T. M., and Caylor, K. K. (2010). “On the importance of accurate depiction of infiltration processes on modelled soil moisture and vegetation water stress.” Ecohydrology, 3(2), 155–165.
Martens, B., Miralles, D., Lievens, H., Fernández-Prieto, D., and Verhoest, N. E. C. (2016). “Improving terrestrial evaporation estimates over continental Australia through assimilation of SMOS soil moisture.” Int. J. Appl. Earth obs., 48, 146–162.
MATLAB [Computer software]. MathWorks, Natick, MA.
Mattia, F., Satalino, G., Pauwels, V. R. N., and Loew, A. (2009). “Soil moisture retrieval through a merging of multi-temporal L-band SAR data and hydrologic modelling.” Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 13(3), 343–356.
Miralles, D. G., De Jeu, R. A., Gash, J. H., Holmes, T. R., and Dolman, A. J. (2011). “Magnitude and variability of land evaporation and its components at the global scale.” Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 15(3), 967–981.
Mladenova, I. E., et al. (2014). “Remote monitoring of soil moisture using passive microwave-based techniques—Theoretical basis and overview of selected algorithms for AMSR-E.” Remote Sens. Environ., 144, 197–213.
Mo, T., Choudhury, B. J., Schmugge, T. J., Wang, J. R., and Jackson, T. J. (1982). “A model for microwave emission from vegetation-covered fields.” J. Geophys. Res.: Oceans, 87(C13), 11229–11237.
Ochsner, T. E., et al. (2013). “State of the art in large-scale soil moisture monitoring.” Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 77(6), 1888–1919.
Owe, M., de Jeu, R., and Holmes, T. (2008). “Multisensor historical climatology of satellite-derived global land surface moisture.” J. Geophys. Res.: Earth Surf., 113, F01002.
Owe, M., de Jeu, R., and Walker, J. (2001). “A methodology for surface soil moisture and vegetation optical depth retrieval using the microwave polarization difference index.” IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 39(8), 1643–1654.
Owe, M., Van de Griend, A. A., Jeu, R., Vries, J. J., Seyhan, E., and Engman, E. T. (1999). “Estimating soil moisture from satellite microwave observations: Past and ongoing projects, and relevance to GCIP.” J. Geophys. Res.: Atmos., 104(D16), 19735–19742.
Pan, F., Peters-Lidard, C. D., and Sale, M. J. (2003). “An analytical method for predicting surface soil moisture from rainfall observations.” Water Resour. Res., 39(11), 1314.
Parinussa, R. M., Holmes, T. R., and de Jeu, R. A. (2012). “Soil moisture retrievals from the WindSat spaceborne polarimetric microwave radiometer.” IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 50(7), 2683–2694.
Redelsperger, J. L., Thorncroft, C. D., Diedhiou, A., and Lebel, T. (2006). “African monsoon multidisciplinary analysis: An international research project and field campaign.” Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 87(12), 1739.
Reichle, R. H., Koster, R. D., Dong, J., and Berg, A. A. (2004). “Global soil moisture from satellite observations, land surface models, and ground data: Implications for data assimilation.” J. Hydrometeorol., 5(3), 430–442.
Reichle, R. H., McLaughlin, D. B., and Entekhabi, D. (2002). “Hydrologic data assimilation with the ensemble Kalman filter.” Mon. Weather Rev., 130(1), 103–114.
Renzullo, L. J., et al. (2014). “Continental satellite soil moisture data assimilation improves root-zone moisture analysis for water resources assessment.” J. Hydrol., 519, 2747–2762.
Ridler, M. E., Madsen, H., Stisen, S., Bircher, S., and Fensholt, R. (2014). “Assimilation of SMOS-derived soil moisture in a fully integrated hydrological and soil-vegetation-atmosphere transfer model in western Denmark.” Water Resour. Res., 50(11), 8962–8981.
Schaefer, G. L., Cosh, M. H., and Jackson, T. J. (2007). “The USDA natural resources conservation service soil climate analysis network (SCAN).” J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 24, 2073–2077.
Schmugge, T. J. (1983). “Remote sensing of soil moisture: Recent advances.” IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., GE-21(3), 336–344.
Seneviratne, S. I., et al. (2010). “Investigating soil moisture–climate interactions in a changing climate: A review.” Earth-Sci. Rev., 99(3), 125–161.
USDA-NRCS (USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service). (2016). “Soil climate analysis network (SCAN) data & products.” 〈http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/scan/〉.
Wagner, W., Lemoine, G., and Rott, H. (1999). “A method for estimating soil moisture from ERS scatterometer and soil data.” Remote Sens. Environ., 70(2), 191–207.
Wang, L., and Qu, J. J. (2009). “Satellite remote sensing applications for surface soil moisture monitoring: A review.” Front. Earth Sci. China, 3(2), 237–247.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 17, 2016
Accepted: Jul 18, 2016
Published online: Sep 12, 2016
Published in print: Jan 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Feb 12, 2017
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.