Comprehensive evaluation of soil moisture retrieval models under different crop cover types using C-band synthetic aperture radar data

In the present study, random forest regression (RFR), support vector regression (SVR) and artificial neural network regression (ANNR) models were evaluated for the retrieval of soil moisture covered by winter wheat, barley and corn crops. SVR with radial basis function kernel was provided the highest adj. R² (0.95) value for soil moisture retrieval covered by the wheat crop at VV polarization. However, RFR provided the adj. R² (0.94) value for soil moisture retrieval covered by barley crop at VV polarization using Sentinel-1A satellite data. The adj. R² (0.94) values were found for the soil moisture covered by corn crop at VV polarization using RFR, SVR linear and radial basis function kernels. The least performance was reported using ANNR model for almost all the crops under investigation. The soil moisture retrieval outcomes were found better at VV polarization in comparison to VH polarization using three different models.     

基于非下采样Contourlet变换的极化SAR图像融合与去噪

针对非下采样Contourlet变换(NSCT)在处理噪声影像中具有的优势,以及同极化SAR图像(HH、VV)之间的相关性与互补性,本文实验了一种基于非下采样Contourlet变换的极化图像融合方法。该方法首先对每个极化图像进行多尺度、多方向分解,然后对不同分解子带系数分别采用有利于斑点噪声去除和信息增强的融合规则进行融合,最终通过NSCT反变换得到融合图像。通过信息熵、相关系数以及等效视数等指标的评价,验证了该方法可以有效地实现信息增强,同时该方法也在一定程度上降低了斑点噪声的负面影响。     

Using GPS multipath to measure soil moisture fluctuations: initial results

Measurements of soil moisture are important for studies of climate and weather forecasting, flood prediction, and aquifer recharge studies. Although soil moisture measurement networks exist, most are sparsely distributed and lack standardized instrumentation. Measurements of soil moisture from satellites have extremely large spatial footprints (40–60 km). A methodology is described here that uses existing networks of continuously-operating GPS receivers to measure soil moisture fluctuations. In this technique, incoming signals are reflected off and attenuated by the ground before reception by the GPS receiver. These multipath reflections directly affect signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) data routinely collected by GPS receivers, creating amplitude variations that are a function of ground reflectivity and therefore soil moisture content. After describing this technique, multipath reflection amplitudes at a GPS site in Tashkent, Uzbekistan are compared to estimates of soil moisture from the Noah land surface model. Although the GPS multipath amplitudes and the land surface model are uncalibrated, over the 70-day period studied, they both rise sharply following each rainfall event and slowly decrease over a period of ∼10 days.     

时序双极化SAR开采沉陷区土壤水分估计

开采沉陷地质灾害诱发矿区生态环境恶化的关键因子是土壤水分变化。研究提出了一种利用Sentinel-1A双极化SAR和OLI地表反射率数据联合反演土壤含水量的方法,即基于归一化水体指数(NDWI)反演植被含水量;采用Water-Cloud Model(WCM)模型消除植被对Sentinel-1A后向散射系数产生的影响,将其转化为裸土区的后向散射系数;利用基于AIEM模型和Oh模型建立的经验模型反演研究区地表参数,并用OLI光学反演结果进行验证;最后比较了开采沉陷区内外土壤水分含量。研究表明:(1)与基于OLI的土壤水分监测指数(SMMI)的土壤水分含量反演结果相比,两种极化方式中VH极化反演的水分结果具有更好的一致性,且两种极化方式反演结果也表明荒漠化草原区比黄土丘陵沟壑区反演效果更好,说明地形对后向散射的影响不可忽略。(2)在2016年内72期数据中,VH极化反演结果对比区土壤水分含量大于沉陷区的有41期,所占比例为57%;VV极化反演结果对比区土壤水分含量大于沉陷区的有36期,所占比例为50%,且不同矿区内的沉陷区受到的影响不同。说明开采沉陷造成的地表粗糙度的增加会对地表土壤水分产生负面影响,但不同矿区之间又有差异。     

Status and future of laser scanning, synthetic aperture radar and hyperspectral remote sensing data for forest biomass assessment

This is a review of the latest developments in different fields of remote sensing for forest biomass mapping. The main fields of research within the last decade have focused on the use of small footprint airborne laser scanning systems, polarimetric synthetic radar interferometry and hyperspectral data. Parallel developments in the field of digital airborne camera systems, digital photogrammetry and very high resolution multispectral data have taken place and have also proven themselves suitable for forest mapping issues. Forest mapping is a wide field and a variety of forest parameters can be mapped or modelled based on remote sensing information alone or combined with field data. The most common information required about a forest is related to its wood production and environmental aspects. In this paper, we will focus on the potential of advanced remote sensing techniques to assess forest biomass. This information is especially required by the REDD (reducing of emission from avoided deforestation and degradation) process. For this reason, new types of remote sensing data such as fullwave laser scanning data, polarimetric radar interferometry (polarimetric systhetic aperture interferometry, PolInSAR) and hyperspectral data are the focus of the research. In recent times, a few state-of-the-art articles in the field of airborne laser scanning for forest applications have been published. The current paper will provide a state-of-the-art review of remote sensing with a particular focus on biomass estimation, including new findings with fullwave airborne laser scanning, hyperspectral and polarimetric synthetic aperture radar interferometry. A synthesis of the actual findings and an outline of future developments will be presented.     

几种卫星合成孔径雷达影像配准算法的比较研究

复数影像配准是卫星合成孔径雷达干涉数据处理中的重要步骤之一,影像配准精度将直接影响干涉条纹图的质量和由此提取的高程或位移结果的精度。文中利用上海地区ERS-1/2影像数据进行实验,对比分析了三种方法的配准质量和运算效率,试验结果表明:在配准质量方面,相干系数法最高,相位差影像平均波动函数法次之;而在信噪比较低的情况下,最大频谱法的配准质量优于相位差影像平均波动函数法。在运算效率方面,相位差影像平均波动函数法的运算效率最高。     

星载SAR成像参数联合估计方法

通信系统的不可靠性会造成SAR卫星下发数据出现误码或丢失,从而导致几何参数的解译、计算出现较大的误差或者缺失,限制了SAR数据成像处理及后续利用。针对该问题,提出一种基于回波数据的成像参数联合估计方法。首先通过回波数据进行多普勒中心频率估计和多普勒调频斜率估计;然后,根据SAR多普勒参数特性,建立多普勒参数与几何参数之间的超定方程组,并利用多普勒参数估计值求解方程组反演几何参数;最后,利用多普勒参数估计值和几何参数估计值完成SAR数据成像处理。实验结果表明,本文方法可以获得可靠的多普勒参数估计值和几何参数估计值,从而有效地解决像参数欠缺情况下的星载SAR成像处理问题。     

Retrieving soil moisture in rainfed and irrigated fields using Sentinel-2 observations and a modified OPTRAM approach

Surface soil water content plays an important role in driving the exchange of latent and sensible heat between the atmosphere and land surface through transpiration and evaporation processes, regulating key physiological processes affecting plants growth. Given the high impact of water scarcity on yields, and of irrigated agriculture on the overall withdrawal rate of freshwater, it is important to define models that help to improve water resources management for agricultural purposes, and to optimize rainfed crop yield. Recent advances in satellite-based remote sensing have led to valuable solutions to estimate soil water content based on microwave or optical/thermal-infrared data. This study aims at improving soil water content estimation at high spatial and temporal resolution, by means of the Optical Trapezoid Model (OPTRAM) driven by Copernicus Sentinel-2 data. Two different model variations were considered, based on linear and nonlinear parameters constraints, and validated against in situ soil water content measurements made with time domain reflectometry (TDR) on irrigated maize in central Italy and on rainfed maize and pasture in northern Italy. For the first site the non-linear model shows a better correlation between measured and estimated soil water content values (r = 0.80) compared to the linear model (r = 0.73). In both cases the modeled soil moisture tends to overestimate the measured values at medium to high water content level, while both models underestimate soil moisture at low water content level. Estimated versus measured normalized surface soil water for rainfed pasture plots from nonlinear OPTRAM parametrized based on irrigated maize parameterization (SIM1), and site-specific parametrization for rainfed pasture (SIM2), indicate that both models (SIM1 and SIM2) are comparable for rotational grazing pasture (RMSEsim1 = 0.0581 vs. RMSEsim2 = 0.0485 cm3 cm-3) and the continuous grazing pasture (RMSEsim1 = 0.0485 vs. RMSEsim2 = 0.0602 cm3 cm-3), while for the rainfed maize plots SIM1 shows lower RMSE (average for all plots RMSE = 0.0542 cm3 cm-3) compared to the site-specific calibration model (SIM2 – average for all plots RMSE = 0.0645 cm3 cm-3). Finally, OPTRAM estimations are close to in situ measurement values while Surface Soil Moisture at 1 km (SSM1 km) tends to underestimate the measurements during maize crop growing season. Soil moisture retrieval from high-resolution Sentinel-2 optical images allows water stress conditions to be effectively mapped, supporting decision making in irrigation scheduling and other crop management.     

干涉合成孔径雷达及其在火山研究中的应用(第一部分:InSAR原理)

干涉合成孔径雷达是一项能够对地表变形进行测量的遥感技术,在一个巨大区域内,它的变形测量精度可达亚厘米级,而其空间分辨率则在数十米以内。本文回顾了InSAR技术的基本理论,阐明了它的工作原理,并对应用InSAR技术进行地表变形测量的相关问题进行了讨论。     

Modeling and sensitivity analysis of navigation parameter errors for airborne synthetic aperture radar stereo geolocation

For the high-resolution airborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) stereo geolocation application, the final geolocation accuracy is influenced by various error parameter sources. In this paper, an airborne SAR stereo geolocation parameter error model, involving the parameter errors derived from the navigation system on the flight platform, has been put forward. Moreover, a kind of near-direct method for modeling and sensitivity analysis of navigation parameter errors is also given. This method directly uses the ground reference to calculate the covariance matrix relationship between the parameter errors and the eventual geolocation errors for ground target points. In addition, utilizing true flight track parameters’ errors, this paper gave a verification of the method and a corresponding sensitivity analysis for airborne SAR stereo geolocation model and proved its efficiency.     

An Information fusion approach for PALSAR data to retrieve soil moisture

Estimation of vegetation covered soil moisture with satellite images is still a challenging task. Several models are available for soil moisture retrieval in which water cloud model (WCM) is most common. But, it requires an estimation of accurate vegetation parameterization. Thus, there is a need to develop such an approach for soil moisture retrieval which minimize these limitations. Therefore, this paper deals with the soil moisture retrieval using fully polarimetric SAR data by fusing the information from different bands. Various polarimetric indices and observables were critically analysed, and found that the index; SPAN (total scattered power) gives better information of vegetation cover as compared to other indices/observables. Based on this, WCM model has been modified using SPAN as parameter and soil moisture content were retrieved.     

合成孔径雷达与森林地上生物量反演：好奇和实用的平衡

好奇是科学与技术发展、不断创新的源泉,实用则是科技发展、创新的结果服务人类、回馈社会,两者无不例外共同不断地驱动着合成孔径雷达技术和森林地上生物量反演的研究和发展。在全球气候急剧变化的今天,好奇和实用的平衡则更加至关重要。地球陆地表面森林面积大小和树木生物量是估算各国或者全球碳储量、排放及其变化的重要参数。好奇已产生的成功案例表明,树木生物量的反演与全极化、极化干涉、层析合成孔径雷达SAR(Synthetic Aperture Radar)技术及数据集紧密相关。反思过去,兼顾好奇和实用,对地上树木生物量的反演,建议将来考虑以下4种方案,即星载双波段SAR和异速方程(Allometric Equation),星载激光雷达LiDAR(Light Detection and Ranging)和异速方程,第3个方案是前面两个方案的结合,方案4为探索和好奇性的。     

UHV/VHF波段SAR对次地表层土壤湿度探测与反演

首先采用一层非球形粒子植被模型,计算各波段矢量辐射传输方程Mueller矩阵一阶散射解,对比微扰法所得各波段地表粗糙面直接后向散射解,结果证明L波段植被层的散射对观测结果仍有影响,与下垫土壤粗糙表面的散射不易分离.因此,宜采用更低频率的UHF和VHF波段,对地表和次地表层能有较大的渗透深度,并可忽略植被层影响.接着,运用矢量辐射传输的3层土壤全极化Mueller矩阵解,计算UHF/VHF波段分层土壤的散射与传输,分析该两波段探测深度的差异,证实UHF波段可探测大致10-60cm深处的土壤湿度,而VHF波段探测深度能更大一些.根据第3层中土壤体湿度变化0.1时能否引起土壤表面观测的后向散射系数变化0.1dB这一判据,分析VHF波段反演第3层土壤体湿度的必要条件,证实当第2层的体湿度较小时(<0.25)才能反演层3的体温度.基于UHF/VHF两波段探测深度的差异,耗散土壤层的贡献有不同的权重,先后采用UHF和VHF,迭代法实现3层土壤湿度廓线反演.误差分析表明,该方法是有意义的.     

A comparison of ASCAT and SMOS soil moisture retrievals over Europe and Northern Africa from 2010 to 2013

A comparison between ASCAT/H-SAF and SMOS soil moisture products was performed in the frame of the EUMETSAT H-SAF project. The analysis was extended to the whole H-SAF region of interest, including Europe and North Africa, and the period between January 2010 and November 2013 was considered. Since SMOS and ASCAT soil moisture data are expressed in terms of absolute and relative values, respectively, different approaches were adopted to scale ASCAT data to use the same volumetric soil moisture unit. Effects of land cover, quality index filtering, season and geographical area on the matching between the two products were also analyzed. The two satellite retrievals were also compared with other independent datasets, namely the NCEP/NCAR volumetric soil moisture content reanalysis developed by NOAA and the ERA-Interim/Land soil moisture produced by ECMWF. In situ data, available through the International Soil Moisture Network, were also considered as benchmark. The results turned out to be influenced by the way ASCAT data was scaled. Correlation between the two products exceeded 0.6, while the root mean square difference did not decrease below 8%. ASCAT generally showed a fairly good degree of correlation with ERA, while, as expected considering the different kinds of measurement, the discrepancies with respect to local in situ data were large for both satellite products.     

Considering combined or separated roughness and vegetation effects in soil moisture retrievals

For more than six years, the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission has provided multi angular and full-polarization brightness temperature (TB) measurements at L-band. Geophysical products such as soil moisture (SM) and vegetation optical depth at nadir (τ_nad) are retrieved by an operational algorithm using TB observations at different angles of incidence and polarizations. However, the quality of the retrievals depends on several surface effects, such as vegetation, soil roughness and texture, etc. In the microwave forward emission model used in the retrievals (L-band Microwave Emission Model, L-MEB), soil roughness is modelled with a semi-empirical equation using four main parameters (Q_r, H_r, N_rp, with p = H or V polarizations). At present, these parameters are calibrated with data provided by airborne studies and in situ measurements made at a local scale that is not necessarily representative of the large SMOS footprints (43 km on average) at global scale. In this study, we evaluate the impact of the calibrated values of N_rp and H_r on the SM and τ_nad retrievals based on SMOS TB measurements (SMOS Level 3 product) over the Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN) network located in North America over five years (2011–2015). In this study, Q_r was set equal to zero and we assumed that N_rH = N_rV. The retrievals were performed by varying N_rp from −1 to 2 by steps of 1 and H_r from 0 to 0.6 by steps of 0.1. At satellite scale, the results show that combining vegetation and roughness effects in a single parameter provides the best results in terms of soil moisture retrievals, as evaluated against the in situ SM data. Even though our retrieval approach was very simplified, as we did not account for pixel heterogeneity, the accuracy we obtained in the SM retrievals was almost systematically better than those of the Level 3 product. Improved results were also obtained in terms of optical depth retrievals. These new results may have key consequences in terms of calibration of roughness effects within the algorithms of the SMOS (ESA) and the SMAP (NASA) space missions.     

Intercomparison of two trapezoid-based soil moisture downscaling methods using three scaling factors

This paper compared two soil moisture downscaling methods using three scaling factors. Level 3 soil moisture product of advanced microwave scanning radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E) is downscaled from 25 to 1?km. The downscaled results are compared with the soil moisture observations from polarimetric scanning radiometer (PSR) microwave radiometer and field sampling. The results show that (1) the scaling factor of normalized soil thermal inertia (NSTIs) and vegetation temperature condition index (VTCI) are better than soil evaporative efficiency in reflecting soil moisture; (2) for method 1, NSTIS is the best in the downscaling of soil moisture. For method 2, VTCI is the best; (3) no significant differences of the correlation coefficients (R²) and the biases were found between the two methods for the same scaling factors. However, method 2 shows a better potential than method 1 in the time-series applications of the downscaling of soil moisture; (4) compared with the relationship between the area-averaged soil moisture of AMSR-E and that of PSR, R² of the 6 sets of the downscaled soil moisture almost do not decrease, which suggests the validity of the downscaling of soil moisture with the two downscaling methods using the three scaling factors.     

Investigating the correlation between radar backscatter and in situ soil property measurements

Utilizing remote sensing techniques to extract soil properties can facilitate several engineering applications for large-scale monitoring and modeling purposes such as earthen levees monitoring, landslide mapping, and off-road mobility modeling. This study presents results of statistical analyses to investigate potential correlations between multiple polarization radar backscatter and various physical soil properties. The study was conducted on an approximately 3 km long section of earthen levees along the lower Mississippi river as part of the development of remote levee monitoring methods. Polarimetric synthetic aperture radar imagery from UAVSAR was used along with an extensive set of in situ soil properties. The following properties were analyzed from the top 30–50 cm of soil: texture (sand and clay fraction), penetration resistance (sleeve friction and cone tip resistance), saturated hydraulic conductivity, field capacity, permanent wilting point, and porosity. The results showed some correlation between the cross-polarized (HV) radar backscatter coefficients and most of these properties. A few soil properties, like clay fraction, showed similar but weaker correlations with the co-polarized channels (HH and VV). The correlations between the soil properties and radar backscatter were analyzed separately for the river side and land side of the levee. It was found that the magnitude and direction of the correlation for most of the soil properties noticeably differed between the river and the land sides. The findings of this study can be a good starting point for scattering modelers in a pursuit of better models for radar scattering at cross polarizations which would include more diverse set of soil parameters.     

Evidence of a topographic signal in surface soil moisture derived from ENVISAT ASAR wide swath data

The susceptibility of a catchment to flooding is affected by its soil moisture prior to an extreme rainfall event. While soil moisture is routinely observed by satellite instruments, results from previous work on the assimilation of remotely sensed soil moisture into hydrologic models have been mixed. This may have been due in part to the low spatial resolution of the observations used. In this study, the remote sensing aspects of a project attempting to improve flow predictions from a distributed hydrologic model by assimilating soil moisture measurements are described. Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) Wide Swath data were used to measure soil moisture as, unlike low resolution microwave data, they have sufficient resolution to allow soil moisture variations due to local topography to be detected, which may help to take into account the spatial heterogeneity of hydrological processes. Surface soil moisture content (SSMC) was measured over the catchments of the Severn and Avon rivers in the South West UK. To reduce the influence of vegetation, measurements were made only over homogeneous pixels of improved grassland determined from a land cover map. Radar backscatter was corrected for terrain variations and normalized to a common incidence angle. SSMC was calculated using change detection.To search for evidence of a topographic signal, the mean SSMC from improved grassland pixels on low slopes near rivers was compared to that on higher slopes. When the mean SSMC on low slopes was 30–90%, the higher slopes were slightly drier than the low slopes. The effect was reversed for lower SSMC values. It was also more pronounced during a drying event. These findings contribute to the scant information in the literature on the use of high resolution SAR soil moisture measurement to improve hydrologic models.     

Relationship between oriental migratory locust plague and soil moisture extracted from MODIS data

Locust plagues have been the source of some of the most severe natural disasters in human history. Soil moisture content is among the most important of the numerous factors influencing plague onset and severity. This paper describes a study initiated in three pilot locust plague monitoring regions, i.e., Huangzao, Yangguanzhuang, and Tengnan in Huanghua county, Hebei province, China, to examine the impact of soil moisture status on oriental migratory locust [Locusta migratoria manilensis (L.) Meyen] plague breakout as related to the life cycle, oviposition in autumn, survival in winter, and incubation in summer. Thirty-nine temperature vegetation dryness index (TVDI) data sets, which represent soil moisture content, were extracted from MODIS remote sensing images for two representative time periods: a severe locust plague breakout year (2001–2002) and a slight plague year (2003–2004). TVDI values demonstrated distinctive soil moisture status differences between the 2 years concerned. Soil moisture conditions in the severe plague year were shown to be lower than those in slight plague year. In all three pilot regions, average TVDI value in the severe plague year was 0.07 higher than that in slight plague year, and monthly TVDI values in locust oviposition period (September and October) and incubation period (March, April and May) were higher than their corresponding monthly figures in slight plague year. No remarkable TVDI differences were found in other months during the locust life cycle between the 2 years. TVDI values for September and October (2001), March, April and May (2002) were 0.11, 0.08, 0.16, 0.11 and 0.16 higher than their corresponding monthly figures in 2003–2004 period, respectively.