Vol. 4, No. 1, 44-51, 2005

The retrieval of soil moisture from ENVISAT/ASAR data
Simonetta Paloscia, Paolo Pampaloni, Simone Pettinato, Pietro Poggi and Emanuele Santi

Abstract
In order to verify the possibility of estimating soil parameters by means of SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) images at C-band, an experimental campaign was carried out in two agricultural areas in Italy (Alessandria and Montespertoli) during ENVISAT/ASAR passages and the results obtained after a preliminary data analysis are described in this paper. First of all, a classification of the Alessandria area, obtained by combining HH and HV polarizations of a SAR C-band image collected on 7 November 2003, was performed with the identification of five surface types. A preliminary investigation on the sensitivity of the backscattering coefficient so in HH polarization to the ground measurements of soil moisture was carried out and confirmed a certain correlation between these two parameters. Finally, a statistical algorithm for the retrieval of soil moisture has been tested on the Montespertoli area. This method, based on the Bayes theorem, made it possible to retrieve five classes of soil moisture content, with a mean error of less than 10%.

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History
Submitted: 08 June 2004
Revised: 19 February 2005
Accepted: 30 March 2005

Citation
Paloscia S, P Pampaloni, S Pettinato, P Poggi & E Santi, 2005. The retrieval of soil moisture from ENVISAT/ASAR data. EARSeL eProceedings, 4(1), 44-51

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EARSeL European Association of Remote Sensing Laboratories, Strasbourg, France

   
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ISSN 1729-3782