Remote sensing of soil moisture

The surface emissivity and reflectivity of soil are strong functions of its moisture content. Changes in emissivity, observed by passive microwave techniques (radiometry), and changes in reflectivity, observed by active microwave techniques (radar), can provide information on the moisture content of the 0 to 5 cm surface layer. In addition, the thermal inertia of the surface layer, which can be remotely sensed by observing the diurnal range of surface temperature, is an indicator of soil moisture content. The thermal infrared approach to remote sensing of soil moisture has little utility in the presence of cloud cover, but provides soil moisture data at high spatial resolutions and thermal data which are a potentially useful indicator of crop status. Microwave techniques can penetrate cloud covers. The passive technique has been demonstrated by both aircraft and spacecraft instruments, but spatial resolution is limited by the size of the antenna which can be flown. Active microwave systems offer the possibility of better spatial resolution, but have yet to be demonstrated from aircraft or spacecraft platforms.