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.     

Upscaling plot-scale soil respiration in winter wheat and summer maize rotation croplands in Julu County,North China

Soil respiration (R_s) data from 45 plots were used to estimate the spatial patterns of R_s during the peak growing seasons of winter wheat and summer maize in Julu County, North China, by combining satellite remote sensing data, field-measured data, and a support vector regression (SVR) model. The observed R_s values were well reproduced by the model at the plot scale, with a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 0.31 μmol CO₂ m⁻² s⁻¹ and a coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.73. No significant difference was detected between the prediction accuracy of the SVR model for winter wheat and summer maize. With forcing from satellite remote sensing data and gridded soil property data, we used the SVR model to predict the spatial distributions of R_s during the peak growing seasons of winter wheat and summer maize rotation croplands in Julu County. The SVR model captured the spatial variations of R_s at the county scale. The satellite-derived enhanced vegetation index was found to be the most important input used to predict R_s. Removal of this variable caused an RMSE increase from 0.31 μmol CO₂ m⁻² s⁻¹ to 0.42 μmol CO₂ m⁻² s⁻¹. Soil properties such as soil organic carbon (SOC) content and soil bulk density (SBD) were the second most important factors. Their removal led to an RMSE increase from 0.31 μmol CO₂ m⁻² s⁻¹ to 0.37 μmol CO₂ m⁻² s⁻¹. The SVR model performed better than multiple regression in predicting spatial variations of R_s in winter wheat and summer maize rotation croplands, as shown by the comparison of the R² and RMSE values of the two algorithms. The spatial patterns of R_s are better captured using the SVR model than performing multiple regression, particularly for the relatively high and relatively low R_s values at the center and northeast study areas. Therefore, SVR shows promise for predicting spatial variations of R_s values on the basis of remotely sensed data and gridded soil property data at the county scale.     

Global SMOS Soil Moisture Retrievals from The Land Parameter Retrieval Model

A recent study by Van der Schalie et al. (2015) showed good results for applying the Land Parameter Retrieval Model (LPRM) on SMOS observations over southeast Australia and optimizing and evaluating the retrieved soil moisture (θ in m³ m⁻³) against ground measurements from the OzNet sites. In this study, the LPRM parameterization is globally updated for SMOS against modelled θ from MERRA-Land (MERRA) and ERA-Interim/Land (ERA) over the period of July 2010–December 2010, mainly focusing on two parameters: the single scattering albedo (ω) and the roughness (h). The Pearson's coefficient of correlation (r) increased rapidly when increasing the ω up to 0.12 and reached a steady state from thereon, no significant spatial pattern was found in the estimation of the single scattering albedo, which could be an artifact of the used parameter estimation procedure, and a single value of 0.12 was therefore used globally. The h was defined as a function of θ and varied slightly for the different angle bins, with maximum values of 1.1–1.3 as the angle changes from 42.5° to 57.5°.This resulted in an average r of 0.51 and 0.47, with a bias (m³ m⁻³) of −0.02 and −0.01 and an unbiased root mean square error (ubrmse in m³ m⁻³) of 0.054 and 0.056 against MERRA (ascending and descending). For ERA this resulted in an r of 0.61 and 0.53, with a bias of −0.03 and an ubrmse 0.055 and 0.059. The resulting parameterization was then used to run LPRM on SMOS observations over the period of July 2010–December 2013 and evaluated against SMOS Level 3 (L3) θ and available in situ measurements from the International Soil Moisture Network (ISMN). The comparison with L3 shows that the LPRM θ retrievals are very similar, with for the ascending set very high r of over 0.9 in large parts of the globe, with an overall average of 0.85 and the descending set performing less with an average of 0.74, mainly due to the negative r over the Sahara. The mean bias is 0.03, with an ubrmse of 0.038 and 0.044. In this study there are three major areas where the LPRM retrievals do not perform well: very dry sandy areas, densely forested areas and over high latitudes, which are all known limitations of LPRM. The comparison against in situ measurement from the ISMN give very similar results, with average r for LPRM of 0.65 and 0.61 (0.64 and 0.59 for L3) for the ascending and descending sets, while having a comparable bias and ubrmse over the different networks. This shows that LPRM used on SMOS observations produce θ retrievals with a similar quality as the SMOS L3 product.     

Improving the prediction of arsenic contents in agricultural soils by combining the reflectance spectroscopy of soils and rice plants

Visible and near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy provides a beneficial tool for investigating soil heavy metal contamination. This study aimed to investigate mechanisms of soil arsenic prediction using laboratory based soil and leaf spectra, compare the prediction of arsenic content using soil spectra with that using rice plant spectra, and determine whether the combination of both could improve the prediction of soil arsenic content. A total of 100 samples were collected and the reflectance spectra of soils and rice plants were measured using a FieldSpec3 portable spectroradiometer (350–2500 nm). After eliminating spectral outliers, the reflectance spectra were divided into calibration (n = 62) and validation (n = 32) data sets using the Kennard-Stone algorithm. Genetic algorithm (GA) was used to select useful spectral variables for soil arsenic prediction. Thereafter, the GA-selected spectral variables of the soil and leaf spectra were individually and jointly employed to calibrate the partial least squares regression (PLSR) models using the calibration data set. The regression models were validated and compared using independent validation data set. Furthermore, the correlation coefficients of soil arsenic against soil organic matter, leaf arsenic and leaf chlorophyll were calculated, and the important wavelengths for PLSR modeling were extracted. Results showed that arsenic prediction using the leaf spectra (coefficient of determination in validation, R_v² = 0.54; root mean square error in validation, RMSE_v = 12.99 mg kg⁻¹; and residual prediction deviation in validation, RPD_v = 1.35) was slightly better than using the soil spectra (R_v² = 0.42, RMSE_v = 13.35 mg kg⁻¹, and RPD_v = 1.31). However, results also showed that the combinational use of soil and leaf spectra resulted in higher arsenic prediction (R_v² = 0.63, RMSE_v = 11.94 mg kg⁻¹, RPD_v = 1.47) compared with either soil or leaf spectra alone. Soil spectral bands near 480, 600, 670, 810, 1980, 2050 and 2290 nm, leaf spectral bands near 700, 890 and 900 nm in PLSR models were important wavelengths for soil arsenic prediction. Moreover, soil arsenic showed significantly positive correlations with soil organic matter (r = 0.62, p < 0.01) and leaf arsenic (r = 0.77, p < 0.01), and a significantly negative correlation with leaf chlorophyll (r = −0.67, p < 0.01). The results showed that the prediction of arsenic contents using soil and leaf spectra may be based on their relationships with soil organic matter and leaf chlorophyll contents, respectively. Although RPD of 1.47 was below the recommended RPD of >2 for soil analysis, arsenic prediction in agricultural soils can be improved by combining the leaf and soil spectra.     

A radiative transfer model-based method for the estimation of grassland aboveground biomass

This paper presents a novel method to derive grassland aboveground biomass (AGB) based on the PROSAILH (PROSPECT + SAILH) radiative transfer model (RTM). Two variables, leaf area index (LAI, m²m⁻², defined as a one-side leaf area per unit of horizontal ground area) and dry matter content (DMC, gcm⁻², defined as the dry matter per leaf area), were retrieved using PROSAILH and reflectance data from Landsat 8 OLI product. The result of LAI × DMC was regarded as the estimated grassland AGB according to their definitions. The well-known ill-posed inversion problem when inverting PROSAILH was alleviated using ecological criteria to constrain the simulation scenario and therefore the number of simulated spectra. A case study of the presented method was applied to a plateau grassland in China to estimate its AGB. The results were compared to those obtained using an exponential regression, a partial least squares regression (PLSR) and an artificial neural networks (ANN). The RTM-based method offered higher accuracy (R² = 0.64 and RMSE = 42.67 gm⁻²) than the exponential regression (R² = 0.48 and RMSE = 41.65 gm⁻²) and the ANN (R² = 0.43 and RMSE = 46.26 gm⁻²). However, the proposed method offered similar performance than PLSR as presented better determination coefficient than PLSR (R² = 0.55) but higher RMSE (RMSE = 37.79 gm⁻²). Although it is still necessary to test these methodologies in other areas, the RTM-based method offers greater robustness and reproducibility to estimate grassland AGB at large scale without the need to collect field measurements and therefore is considered the most promising methodology.     

Estimating winter wheat biomass by assimilating leaf area index derived from fusion of Landsat-8 and MODIS data

A sufficient number of satellite acquisitions in a growing season are essential for deriving agronomic indicators, such as green leaf area index (GLAI), to be assimilated into crop models for crop productivity estimation. However, for most high resolution orbital optical satellites, it is often difficult to obtain images frequently due to their long revisit cycles and unfavorable weather conditions. Data fusion algorithms, such as the Spatial and Temporal Adaptive Reflectance Fusion Model (STARFM) and the Enhanced STARFM (ESTARFM), have been developed to generate synthetic data with high spatial and temporal resolution to address this issue. In this study, we evaluated the approach of assimilating GLAI into the Simple Algorithm for Yield Estimation model (SAFY) for winter wheat biomass estimation. GLAI was estimated using the two-band Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI2) derived from data acquired by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) onboard the Landsat-8 and a fusion dataset generated by blending the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data and the OLI data using the STARFM and ESTARFM models. The fusion dataset had the temporal resolution of the MODIS data and the spatial resolution of the OLI data. Key parameters of the SAFY model were optimised through assimilation of the estimated GLAI into the crop model using the Shuffled Complex Evolution-University of Arizona (SCE-UA) algorithm. A good agreement was achieved between the estimated and field measured biomass by assimilating the GLAI derived from the OLI data (GLAI_L) alone (R² = 0.77 and RMSE = 231 g m⁻²). Assimilation of GLAI derived from the fusion dataset (GLAI_F) resulted in a R² of 0.71 and RMSE of 193 g m⁻² while assimilating the combination of GLAI_L and GLAI_F led to further improvements (R² = 0.76 and RMSE = 176 g m⁻²). Our results demonstrated the potential of using the fusion algorithms to improve crop growth monitoring and crop productivity estimation when the number of high resolution remote sensing data acquisitions is limited.     

Estimation of higher chlorophylla concentrations using field spectral measurement and HJ-1A hyperspectral satellite data in Dianshan Lake,China

Based on in situ water sampling and field spectral measurements in Dianshan Lake, a semi-analytical three-band algorithm was used to estimate Chlorophylla (Chla) content in case II waters. The three bands selected to estimate Chla for high concentrations included 653, 691 and 748 nm. An equation, based on the difference in reciprocal reflectance between 653 and 691 nm, multiplied by reflectance at 748 nm as [R_rs⁻¹(653) − R_rs⁻¹ (691)] R_rs(748), explained 85.57% of variance in Chla concentration with a root mean square error (RMSE) of <6.56 mg/m³. In order to test the utility of this model with satellite data, HJ-1A Hyperspectral Imager (HSI) data were analyzed using comparable wavelengths selected from the in situ data [B₆₇⁻¹(656) − B₈₀⁻¹(716)] B₈₇(753). This model accounted for 84.3% of Chla variation, estimating Chla concentrations with an RMSE of <4.23 mg/m³. The results illustrate that, based on the determined wavelengths, the spectrum-based model can achieve a high estimation accuracy and can be applied to hyperspectral satellite imagery especially for higher Chla concentration waters.     

Satellite surface soil moisture from SMOS and Aquarius: Assessment for applications in agricultural landscapes

Satellite surface soil moisture has become more widely available in the past five years, with several missions designed specifically for soil moisture measurement now available, including the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission and the Soil Moisture Active/Passive (SMAP) mission. With a wealth of data now available, the challenge is to understand the skill and limitations of the data so they can be used routinely to support monitoring applications and to better understand environmental change. This paper examined two satellite surface soil moisture data sets from the SMOS and Aquarius missions against in situ networks in largely agricultural regions of Canada. The data from both sensors was compared to ground measurements on both an absolute and relative basis. Overall, the root mean squared errors for SMOS were less than 0.10 m³ m⁻³ at most sites, and less where the in situ soil moisture was measured at multiple sites within the radiometer footprint (sites in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario). At many sites, SMOS overestimates soil moisture shortly after rainfall events compared to the in situ data; however this was not consistent for each site and each time period. SMOS was found to underestimate drying events compared to the in situ data, however this observation was not consistent from site to site. The Aquarius soil moisture data showed higher root mean squared errors in areas where there were more frequent wetting and drying cycles. Overall, both data sets, and SMOS in particular, showed a stable and consistent pattern of capturing surface soil moisture over time.     

Uncertainty analysis of remote sensing of colored dissolved organic matter: Evaluations and comparisons for three rivers in North America

The uncertainties involved in remote sensing inversion of CDOM (Colored Dissolved Organic Matter) were analyzed in estuarine and coastal regions of three North American rivers: Mississippi, Hudson, and Neponset. Water optical and biogeochemical properties, including CDOM absorption and above-surface spectra, were collected in very high resolution. CDOM’s concentrations (a_g(440), absorption coefficient at 440 nm) were inverted from EO-1 Hyperion images, using a quasi-analytical algorithm for CDOM (QAA-CDOM). Uncertainties are classified to five levels, in which the underwater measurement uncertainty (level 1), image preprocessing uncertainty (level 4) and inverse model uncertainty (level 5) were evaluated. Results indicate that at level 1, in situ CDOM measurement is significant with 0.1 in the unit of QSU and 0.01 in the unit of a_g(440) (m⁻¹). At level 4, surface wave is a potential uncertainty source for high-resolution images in estuarine and coastal regions. The remote sensing reflectance of wavy water is about 10 times of the truth. At level 5, the overall uncertainty of QAA-CDOM inversion is 0.006 m⁻¹, with accuracy R² = 0.77, k = 1.1 and RMSE_log = 0.33 m⁻¹. The correlations between uncertainties and other water properties indicate that the large uncertainty in some rivers, such as the Neponset and Atchafalaya, might be caused by high-concentration chlorophyll or sediments. The relationships among the three level uncertainties show that the level 1 uncertainty generally does not propagate into level 4 and 5, but the large uncertainty at level 4 usually introduce large uncertainty at level 5.     

Determination of the factors governing soil erodibility using hyperspectral visible and near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy

Soil erodibility, which is difficult to estimate and upscaling, was determined in this study using multiple spectral models of soil properties (soil organic matter (SOM), water-stable aggregates (WSA) > 0.25 mm, the geometric mean radius (D_g)). Herein, the soil erodibility indicators were calculated, and soil properties were quantitatively analyzed based on laboratory simulation experiments involving two selected contrasting soils. In addition, continuous wavelet transformation was applied to the reflectance spectra (350–2500 nm) of 65 soil samples from the study area. To build the relationship, the soil properties that control erodibility were identified prior to the spectral analysis. In this study, the SOM, D_g and WSA >0.25 mm were selected to represent the most significant soil properties controlling erodibility and describe the erodibility indicator based on a logarithmic regression model as a function of SOM or WSA > 0.25 mm. Five, six and three wavelet features were observed to calibrate the estimated soil properties model, and the best performance was obtained with a combination feature regression model for SOM (R² = 0.86, p < 0.01), D_g (R² = 0.79, p < 0.01) and WSA >0.25 mm (R² = 0.61, p < 0.01), respectively. One part of the wavelet features captured amplitude variations in the broad shape of the reflectance spectra, and another part captured variations in the shape and depth of the soil dry substances. The wavelet features for the validated dataset used to predict the SOM, WSA >0.25 mm and D_g were not significantly different compared with the calibrated dataset. The synthesized spectral models of soil properties, and the formation of a new equation for soil erodibility transformed from the spectral models of soil properties are presented in this study. These results show that a spectral analytical approach can be applied to complex datasets and provide new insights into emerging dynamic variation with erodibility estimation.     

Soil moisture retrieval from airborne L-band passive microwave using high resolution multispectral data

For the soil moisture retrieval from passive microwave sensors, such as ESA’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) and the NASA Soil Moisture Active and Passive (SMAP) mission, a good knowledge about the vegetation characteristics is indispensable. Vegetation cover is a principal factor in the attenuation, scattering and absorption of the microwave emissions from the soil; and has a direct impact on the brightness temperature by way of its canopy emissions. Here, brightness temperatures were measured at three altitudes across the TERENO (Terrestrial Environmental Observatories) Rur catchment site in Germany to achieve a range of spatial resolutions using the airborne Polarimetric L-band Multibeam Radiometer 2 (PLMR2). The L-band Microwave Emission of the Biosphere (L-MEB) model which simulates microwave emissions from the soil–vegetation layer at L-band was used to retrieve surface soil moisture for all resolutions. A Monte Carlo approach was developed to simultaneously estimate soil moisture and the vegetation parameter b’ describing the relationship between the optical thickness τ and the Leaf Area Index (LAI). LAI was retrieved from multispectral RapidEye imagery and the plant specific vegetation parameter b′ was estimated from the lowest flight altitude data for crop, grass, coniferous forest, and deciduous forest. Mean values of b’ were found to be 0.18, 0.07, 0.26 and 0.23, respectively. By assigning the estimated b′ to higher flight altitude data sets, a high accuracy soil moisture retrieval was achieved with a Root Mean Square Difference (RMSD) of 0.035 m³ m⁻³ when compared to ground-based measurements.     

Impact of sub-pixel heterogeneity on modelled brightness temperature for an agricultural region

Knowledge of sub-pixel heterogeneity, particularly at the passive microwave scale, can improve the brightness temperature (and ultimately the soil moisture) estimation. However, the impact of surface heterogeneity (in terms of soil moisture, soil temperature and vegetation water content) on brightness temperature in an agricultural setting is relatively unknown. The Soil Moisture Active Passive Validation Experiment 2012 (SMAPVEX12) provided an opportunity to evaluate sub-pixel heterogeneity at the scale of a Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) or the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) radiometer footprint using field measured data. The first objective of this study was to determine if accounting for surface heterogeneity reduced the error between estimated brightness temperature (T_b) and T_b measured by SMOS. It was found that when accounting for variation in surface soil moisture, temperature and vegetation water content within the pixel footprint, the error between the modelled T_b and the measured T_b was less than if a homogeneous pixel were modelled. The correlation between the surface parameters and the error associated with not accounting for surface heterogeneity were investigated. It was found that there was low to moderate correlation between the error and the coefficient of variance associated with the measured soil moisture, soil temperature and vegetation volumetric water content during the field campaign. However, it was found that the correlations changed depending on the stage of vegetation growth and the amount of time following a precipitation event. At the start of the field campaign (following a precipitation event), there was strong correlation between the error and all three surface parameters (r ≥ 0.75). Following a precipitation event close to the middle of the field campaign (during which there was rapid growth in vegetation), there was strong correlation between the error and the variability in vegetation water content (r = 0.89), moderate correlation with soil moisture (r = 0.61) and low correlation with soil temperature (r = 0.26).     

Estimation of soil moisture using optical/thermal infrared remote sensing in the Canadian Prairies

A new approach to estimate soil moisture (SM) based on evaporative fraction (EF) retrieved from optical/thermal infrared MODIS data is presented for Canadian Prairies in parts of Saskatchewan and Alberta. An EF model using the remotely sensed land surface temperature (Ts)/vegetation index concept was modified by incorporating North American Regional Reanalysis (NAAR) Ta data and used for SM estimation. Two different combinations of temperature and vegetation fraction using the difference between Ts from MODIS Aqua and Terra images and Ta from NARR data (Ts−Ta Aqua-day and Ts−Ta Terra-day, respectively) were proposed and the results were compared with those obtained from a previously improved model (ΔTs Aqua-DayNight) as a reference. For the estimation of SM from EF, two empirical models were tested and discussed to find the most appropriate model for converting MODIS-derived EF data to SM values. Estimated SM values were then correlated with in situ SM measurements and their relationships were statistically analyzed. Results indicated statistically significant correlations between SM estimated from all three EF estimation approaches and field measured SM values (R² = 0.42–0.77, p values < 0.04) exhibiting the possibility to estimate SM from remotely sensed EF models. The proposed Ts−Ta MODIS Aqua-day and Terra-day approaches resulted in better estimations of SM (on average higher R² values and similar RMSEs) as compared with the ΔTs reference approach indicating that the concept of incorporating NARR Ta data into Ts/Vegetation index model improved soil moisture estimation accuracy based on evaporative fraction. The accuracies of the predictions were found to be considerably better for intermediate SM values (from 12 to 22 vol/vol%) with square errors averaging below 11 (vol/vol%)². This indicates that the model needs further improvements to account for extreme soil moisture conditions. The findings of this research can be potentially used to downscale SM estimations obtained from passive microwave remote sensing techniques.     

A visible band index for remote sensing leaf chlorophyll content at the canopy scale

Leaf chlorophyll content is an important variable for agricultural remote sensing because of its close relationship to leaf nitrogen content. The triangular greenness index (TGI) was developed based on the area of a triangle surrounding the spectral features of chlorophyll with points at (670 nm, R₆₇₀), (550 nm, R₅₅₀), and (480 nm, R₄₈₀), where R_λ is the spectral reflectance at wavelengths of 670, 550 and 480, respectively. The equation is TGI = −0.5[(670 − 480)(R₆₇₀ − R₅₅₀) − (670 − 550)(R₆₇₀ − R₄₈₀)]. In 1999, investigators funded by NASA's Earth Observations Commercialization and Applications Program collaborated on a nitrogen fertilization experiment with irrigated maize in Nebraska. Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) data and Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) data were acquired along with leaf chlorophyll meter and other data on three dates in July during late vegetative growth and early reproductive growth. TGI was consistently correlated with plot-averaged chlorophyll-meter values at the spectral resolutions of AVIRIS, Landsat TM, and digital cameras. Simulations using the Scattering by Arbitrarily Inclined Leaves (SAIL) canopy model indicate an interaction among TGI, leaf area index (LAI) and soil type at low crop LAI, whereas at high LAI and canopy closure, TGI was only affected by leaf chlorophyll content. Therefore, TGI may be the best spectral index to detect crop nitrogen requirements with low-cost digital cameras mounted on low-altitude airborne platforms.     

Retrieval of leaf water content spanning the visible to thermal infrared spectra

The objective of this study was to investigate the entire spectra (from visible to the thermal infrared; 0.390–14.0 μm) to retrieve leaf water content in a consistent manner. Narrow-band spectral indices (calculated from all possible two band combinations) and a partial least square regression (PLSR) were used to assess the strength of each spectral region. The coefficient of determination (R²) and root mean square error (RMSE) were used to report the prediction accuracy of spectral indices and PLSR models. In the visible-near infrared and shortwave infrared (VNIR–SWIR), the most accurate spectral index yielded R² of 0.89 and RMSE of 7.60%, whereas in the mid infrared (MIR) the highest R² was 0.93 and RMSE of 5.97%. Leaf water content was poorly predicted using two-band indices developed from the thermal infrared (R² = 0.33). The most accurate PLSR model resulted from MIR reflectance spectra (R² = 0.96, RMSE = 4.74% and RMSE cross validation RMSE_CV = 6.17%) followed by VNIR–SWIR reflectance spectra (R² = 0.91, RMSE = 6.90% and RMSE_CV = 7.32%). Using thermal infrared (TIR) spectra, the PLSR model yielded a moderate retrieval accuracy (R² = 0.67, RMSE = 13.27% and RMSE_CV = 16.39%). This study demonstrated that the mid infrared (MIR) and shortwave infrared (SWIR) domains were the most sensitive spectral region for the retrieval of leaf water content.     

Using multi-polarization C- and L-band synthetic aperture radar to estimate biomass and soil moisture of wheat fields

Biomass and soil moisture are two important parameters for agricultural crop monitoring and yield estimation. In this study, the Water Cloud Model (WCM) was coupled with the Ulaby soil moisture model to estimate both biomass and soil moisture for spring wheat fields in a test site in western Canada. This study exploited both C-band (RADARSAT-2) and L-band (UAVSAR) Synthetic Aperture Radars (SARs) for this purpose. The WCM-Ulaby model was calibrated for three polarizations (HH, VV and HV). Subsequently two of these three polarizations were used as inputs to an inversion procedure, to retrieve either soil moisture or biomass without the need for any ancillary data. The model was calibrated for total canopy biomass, the biomass of only the wheat heads, as well as for different wheat growth stages. This resulted in a calibrated WCM-Ulaby model for each sensor-polarization-phenology-biomass combination. Validation of model retrievals led to promising results. RADARSAT-2 (HH-HV) estimated total wheat biomass with root mean square (RMSE) and mean average (MAE) errors of 78.834 g/m² and 58.438 g/m²; soil moisture with errors of 0.078 m³/m³ (RMSE) and 0.065 m³/m³ (MAE) are reported. During the period of crop ripening, L-band estimates of soil moisture had accuracies of 0.064 m³/m³ (RMSE) and 0.057 m³/m³ (MAE). RADARSAT-2 (VV-HV) produced interesting results for retrieval of the biomass of the wheat heads. In this particular case, the biomass of the heads was estimated with accuracies of 38.757 g/m² (RSME) and 33.152 g/m² (MAE). For wider implementation this model will require additional data to strengthen the model accuracy and confirm estimation performance. Nevertheless this study encourages further research given the importance of wheat as a global commodity, the challenge of cloud cover in optical monitoring and the potential of direct estimation of the weight of heads where wheat production lies.     

Remote quantification of phycocyanin in potable water sources through an adaptive model

Cyanobacterial blooms in water supply sources in both central Indiana USA (CIN) and South Australia (SA) are a cause of great concerns for toxin production and water quality deterioration. Remote sensing provides an effective approach for quick assessment of cyanobacteria through quantification of phycocyanin (PC) concentration. In total, 363 samples spanning a large variation of optically active constituents (OACs) in CIN and SA waters were collected during 24 field surveys. Concurrently, remote sensing reflectance spectra (R_rs) were measured. A partial least squares–artificial neural network (PLS–ANN) model, artificial neural network (ANN) and three-band model (TBM) were developed or tuned by relating the R_rs with PC concentration. Our results indicate that the PLS–ANN model outperformed the ANN and TBM with both the original spectra and simulated ESA/Sentinel-3/Ocean and Land Color Instrument (OLCI) and EO-1/Hyperion spectra. The PLS–ANN model resulted in a high coefficient of determination (R²) for CIN dataset (R² = 0.92, R: 0.3–220.7 μg/L) and SA (R² = 0.98, R: 0.2–13.2 μg/L). In comparison, the TBM model yielded an R² = 0.77 and 0.94 for the CIN and SA datasets, respectively; while the ANN obtained an intermediate modeling accuracy (CIN: R² = 0.86; SA: R² = 0.95). Applying the simulated OLCI and Hyperion aggregated datasets, the PLS–ANN model still achieved good performance (OLCI: R² = 0.84; Hyperion: R² = 0.90); the TBM also presented acceptable performance for PC estimations (OLCI: R² = 0.65, Hyperion: R² = 0.70). Based on the results, the PLS–ANN is an effective modeling approach for the quantification of PC in productive water supplies based on its effectiveness in solving the non-linearity of PC with other OACs. Furthermore, our investigation indicates that the ratio of inorganic suspended matter (ISM) to PC concentration has close relationship to modeling relative errors (CIN: R² = 0.81; SA: R² = 0.92), indicating that ISM concentration exert significant impact on PC estimation accuracy.     

Assessment of satellite ocean color products of MERIS,MODIS and SeaWiFS along the East China Coast (in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea)

The validation of satellite ocean-color products is an important task of ocean-color missions. The uncertainties of these products are poorly quantified in the Yellow Sea (YS) and East China Sea (ECS), which are well known for their optical complexity and turbidity in terms of both oceanic and atmospheric optical properties. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the primary ocean-color products from three major ocean-color satellites, namely the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS), and Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS). Through match-up analysis with in situ data, it is found that satellite retrievals of the spectral remote sensing reflectance R_rs(λ) at the blue-green and green bands from MERIS, MODIS and SeaWiFS have the lowest uncertainties with a median of the absolute percentage of difference (APD_m) of 15–27% and root-mean-square-error (RMS) of 0.0021–0.0039 sr⁻¹, whereas the R_rs(λ) uncertainty at 412 nm is the highest (APD_m 47–62%, RMS 0.0027–0.0041 sr⁻¹). The uncertainties of the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) τ_a, diffuse attenuation coefficient for downward irradiance at 490 nm K_d(490), concentrations of suspended particulate sediment concentration (SPM) and Chlorophyll a (Chl-a) were also quantified. It is demonstrated that with appropriate in-water algorithms specifically developed for turbid waters rather than the standard ones adopted in the operational satellite data processing chain, the uncertainties of satellite-derived properties of K_d(490), SPM, and Chl-a may decrease significantly to the level of 20–30%, which is true for the majority of the study area. This validation activity advocates for (1) the improvement of the atmosphere correction algorithms with the regional aerosol optical model, (2) switching to regional in-water algorithms over turbid coastal waters, and (3) continuous support of the dedicated in situ data collection effort for the validation task.     

Determining iron content in Mediterranean soils in partly vegetated areas,using spectral reflectance and imaging spectroscopy

The possibility of quantifying iron content in the topsoil of the slopes of the El Hacho Mountain complex in Southern Spain using imaging spectroscopy is investigated. Laboratory, field and airborne spectrometer (ROSIS) data are acquired, in combination with soil samples, which are analysed for dithionite extractable iron (Fe_d) content. Analysis of the properties of two iron related absorption features present in laboratory spectra demonstrates good relations, especially between the standard deviation (S.D.) of the values in an absorption feature and the Fe_d content (R² = 0.67) as well as the ratio based Redness Index (R² = 0.51). Such derived relations are less strong for the ROSIS data (R² for S.D. = 0.26 and R² for Redness Index = 0.22). The spatial distribution of iron in vegetated areas shows a strong sensitivity of these relations with the presence of vegetation. A combination of both methods shows that the overestimation of the Fe_d content with the one method is (partly) compensated by the underestimation with the other method.