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Publications in Scientific Journals:

C. Pratola, B. Barrett, A. Gruber, G. Kiely, Ned Dwyer:
"Evaluation of a Global Soil Moisture Product from Finer Spatial Resolution SAR Data and Ground Measurements at Irish Sites";
Remote Sensing, 6 (2014), 9; 8190 - 8219.



English abstract:
In the framework of the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative, a global, almost daily, soil moisture (SM) product is being developed from passive and active satellite microwave sensors, at a coarse spatial resolution. This study contributes to its validation by using finer spatial resolution ASAR Wide Swath and in situ soil moisture data taken over three sites in Ireland, from 2007 to 2009. This is the first time a comparison has been carried out between three sets of independent observations from different sensors at very different spatial resolutions for such a long time series. Furthermore, the SM spatial distribution has been investigated at the ASAR scale within each Essential Climate Variable (ECV) pixel, without adopting any particular model or using a densely distributed network of in situ stations. This approach facilitated an understanding of the extent to which geophysical factors, such as soil texture, terrain composition and altitude, affect the retrieved ECV SM product values in temperate grasslands. Temporal and spatial variability analysis provided high levels of correlation (p < 0.025) and low errors between the three datasets, leading to confidence in the new ECV SM global product, despite limitations in its ability to track the driest and wettest conditions.

Keywords:
ESA Climate Change Initiative; Essential Climate Variable; soil moisture; ENVISAT ASAR WS; temporal variability; spatial variability


"Official" electronic version of the publication (accessed through its Digital Object Identifier - DOI)
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs6098190

Electronic version of the publication:
http://publik.tuwien.ac.at/files/PubDat_230194.pdf


Created from the Publication Database of the Vienna University of Technology.