The Potential Use of Multi-Band SAR Data for Soil Moisture Retrieval over Bare Agricultural Areas: Hebei, China

The potential use of TerraSAR-X and Radarsat-2 data for soil moisture retrieval over bare agricultural areas was investigated using both empirical and semi-empirical approaches. For the empirical approach, the Support Vector Regression (SVR) model was used with two cases: (1) using only one C-band or X-band image; and (2) using a pair of C-band and X-band images jointly. For the semi-empirical approach, the modified Dubois model based on C-band and X-band SAR data was developed to estimate soil moisture content. The experiments were implemented over two bare agricultural areas, and in-situ measurements were carried out to assess the methods. The results showed that the TerraSAR-X and Radarsat-2 are suitable remote sensing tools for the estimation of surface soil moisture, with an accuracy of about 3 vol % (root mean square error, RMSE) over bare agricultural areas. Compared with the results obtained by Radarsat-2 data, TerraSAR-X data gives a slight improvement in estimating soil moisture. The accuracy of the soil moisture estimation was improved further when the two bands SAR data were used (RMSE of about 2.2 vol %) instead of only one. Moreover, the modified Dubois model showed comparable accuracy to the empirical model independent of the surface roughness.

[1]  Emanuele Santi,et al.  Soil moisture mapping using Sentinel-1 images: Algorithm and preliminary validation , 2013 .

[2]  Mehrez Zribi,et al.  New methodology for soil surface moisture estimation and its application to ENVISAT-ASAR multi-incidence data inversion , 2005 .

[3]  Richard K. Moore,et al.  Microwave Remote Sensing, Active and Passive , 1982 .

[4]  Hari Shanker Srivastava,et al.  Use of multiincidence angle RADARSAT-1 SAR data to incorporate the effect of surface roughness in soil moisture estimation , 2003, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[5]  Mehrez Zribi,et al.  Discrimination potential of X-band polarimetric SAR data , 2004 .

[6]  Hong Linh Truong,et al.  Potential for High Resolution Systematic Global Surface Soil Moisture Retrieval via Change Detection Using Sentinel-1 , 2012, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing.

[7]  Joseph R. Buckley,et al.  Evaluation of polarimetric Radarsat-2 SAR data for development of soil moisture retrieval algorithms over a chronosequence of black spruce boreal forests , 2013 .

[8]  Iliana Mladenova,et al.  Terrain: Slope Influence on QuikSCAT Backscatter , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[9]  M. Zribi,et al.  A new empirical model to retrieve soil moisture and roughness from C-band radar data , 2003 .

[10]  Mehrez Zribi,et al.  Retrieval of Both Soil Moisture and Texture Using TerraSAR-X Images , 2015, Remote. Sens..

[11]  Mehrez Zribi,et al.  Soil moisture estimation using multi‐incidence and multi‐polarization ASAR data , 2006 .

[12]  A. Fung,et al.  A transition model for the reflection coefficient in surface scattering , 1998, IGARSS '98. Sensing and Managing the Environment. 1998 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing. Symposium Proceedings. (Cat. No.98CH36174).

[13]  F. Ulaby,et al.  Microwave Backscatter Dependence on Surface Roughness, Soil Moisture, and Soil Texture: Part II-Vegetation-Covered Soil , 1979, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience Electronics.

[14]  Jean-Philippe Thiran,et al.  Joining a Discrete Radiative Transfer Model and a Kernel Retrieval Algorithm for Soil Moisture Estimation From SAR Data , 2015, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing.

[15]  Mehrez Zribi,et al.  Use of TerraSAR-X Data to Retrieve Soil Moisture Over Bare Soil Agricultural Fields , 2012, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters.

[16]  Lorenzo Bruzzone,et al.  Estimating Soil Moisture With the Support Vector Regression Technique , 2011, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters.

[17]  Masanobu Shimada,et al.  An Evaluation of the ALOS PALSAR L-Band Backscatter—Above Ground Biomass Relationship Queensland, Australia: Impacts of Surface Moisture Condition and Vegetation Structure , 2010, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing.

[18]  C. Loumagne,et al.  Analysis of TerraSAR-X data and their sensitivity to soil surface parameters over bare agricultural fields , 2008 .

[19]  Seung-Bum Kim,et al.  Soil Moisture Retrieval Using L-Band Radar Observations , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[20]  Manoj K. Arora,et al.  ANN-Based Soil Moisture Retrieval over Bare and Vegetated Areas Using ERS-2 SAR Data , 2008 .

[21]  Lorenzo Bruzzone,et al.  Multi-Objective Parameter Optimization in Support Vector Regression: General Formulation and Application to the Retrieval of Soil Moisture From Remote Sensing Data , 2012, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing.

[22]  F. Ulaby,et al.  Radar mapping of surface soil moisture , 1996 .

[23]  Qin Li,et al.  Emission of rough surfaces calculated by the integral equation method with comparison to three-dimensional moment method simulations , 2003, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[24]  Thuy Le Toan,et al.  The effect of surface roughness on multifrequency polarimetric SAR data , 1997, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[25]  Danielle De Sève,et al.  Monitoring Volumetric Surface Soil Moisture Content at the La Grande Basin Boreal Wetland by Radar Multi Polarization Data , 2013, Remote. Sens..

[26]  Claudia Notarnicola.  A Bayesian Change Detection Approach for Retrieval of Soil Moisture Variations Under Different Roughness Conditions , 2014, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters.

[27]  Mahmod Reza Sahebi,et al.  An inversion method based on multi-angular approaches for estimating bare soil surface parameters from RADARSAT-1 , 2009 .

[28]  Tingting Zhang,et al.  Modeling and Mapping Soil Moisture of Plateau Pasture Using RADARSAT-2 Imagery , 2015, Remote. Sens..

[29]  Vladimir Vapnik,et al.  The Nature of Statistical Learning , 1995 .

[30]  J. Mercer.  Functions of positive and negative type, and their connection with the theory of integral equations , 1909 .

[31]  Kun-Shan Chen,et al.  An update on the IEM surface backscattering model , 2004, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters.

[32]  Eric Pottier,et al.  A Potential Use for the C-Band Polarimetric SAR Parameters to Characterize the Soil Surface Over Bare Agriculture Fields , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[33]  Jeffrey P. Walker,et al.  Evaluation of IEM, Dubois, and Oh Radar Backscatter Models Using Airborne L-Band SAR , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[34]  Malcolm Davidson,et al.  Dense Temporal Series of C- and L-band SAR Data for Soil Moisture Retrieval Over Agricultural Crops , 2011, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing.

[35]  Kun-Shan Chen,et al.  Note on the multiple scattering in an IEM model , 2000, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[36]  Kamal Sarabandi,et al.  Semi-empirical model of the ensemble-averaged differential Mueller matrix for microwave backscattering from bare soil surfaces , 2002, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[37]  Niko E. C. Verhoest,et al.  Spatial and temporal soil moisture estimation from RADARSAT-2 imagery over Flevoland, The Netherlands , 2012 .

[38]  Iliana Mladenova,et al.  Validation of the ASAR Global Monitoring Mode Soil Moisture Product Using the NAFE'05 Data Set , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[39]  Y. Kerr.  Soil moisture from space: Where are we? , 2007 .

[40]  Irena Hajnsek,et al.  An Iterative Generalized Hybrid Decomposition for Soil Moisture Retrieval Under Vegetation Cover Using Fully Polarimetric SAR , 2015, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing.

[41]  Emanuele Santi,et al.  A Comparison of Algorithms for Retrieving Soil Moisture from ENVISAT/ASAR Images , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[42]  Pascale C. Dubois,et al.  Measuring soil moisture with imaging radars , 1995, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[43]  Claudia Notarnicola,et al.  Soil moisture retrieval from remotely sensed data: Neural network approach versus Bayesian method , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[44]  Lorenzo Bruzzone,et al.  Polarimetric RADARSAT-2 imagery for soil moisture retrieval in alpine areas , 2011 .

[45]  K. Moffett,et al.  Remote Sens , 2015 .

[46]  Irena Hajnsek,et al.  Potential of Estimating Soil Moisture Under Vegetation Cover by Means of PolSAR , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[47]  Maurice Borgeaud,et al.  Monitoring soil moisture over the Canadian Prairies with the ERS scatterometer , 1999, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[48]  David G. Long,et al.  An Assessment of QuikSCAT Ku-Band Scatterometer Data for Soil Moisture Sensitivity , 2009, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters.

[49]  Mehrez Zribi,et al.  A new soil roughness parameter for the modelling of radar backscattering over bare soil , 2014, 2014 IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium.

[50]  Irena Hajnsek,et al.  Soil Moisture Estimation Under Low Vegetation Cover Using a Multi-Angular Polarimetric Decomposition , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[51]  Lorenzo Bruzzone,et al.  Soil moisture monitoring in mountain areas by using high‐resolution SAR images: results from a feasibility study , 2014 .

[52]  Adrian K. Fung,et al.  Backscattering from a randomly rough dielectric surface , 1992, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[53]  Nazzareno Pierdicca,et al.  Inversion of Electromagnetic Models for Bare Soil Parameter Estimation from Multifrequency Polarimetric SAR Data , 2008, Sensors.

[54]  A. P. Annan,et al.  Electromagnetic determination of soil water content: Measurements in coaxial transmission lines , 1980 .

[55]  Hari Shanker Srivastava,et al.  Large-Area Soil Moisture Estimation Using Multi-Incidence-Angle RADARSAT-1 SAR Data , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[56]  K. Beven,et al.  Soil moisture estimation over grass-covered areas using AIRSAR. , 1994 .

[57]  Vladimir N. Vapnik,et al.  The Nature of Statistical Learning Theory , 2000, Statistics for Engineering and Information Science.

[58]  A. K. Joshi,et al.  Modified Dubois Model for Estimating Soil Moisture with Dual Polarized SAR Data , 2013, Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing.

[59]  Frédéric Baup,et al.  Analysis of TerraSAR-X data sensitivity to bare soil moisture, roughness, composition and soil crust , 2011 .