Assessing the utility of geospatial technologies to investigate environmental change within lake systems

Over 50% of the world's population live within 3. km of rivers and lakes highlighting the on-going importance of freshwater resources to human health and societal well-being. Whilst covering c. 3.5% of the Earth's non-glaciated land mass, trends in the environmental quality of the world's standing waters (natural lakes and reservoirs) are poorly understood, at least in comparison with rivers, and so evaluation of their current condition and sensitivity to change are global priorities. Here it is argued that a geospatial approach harnessing existing global datasets, along with new generation remote sensing products, offers the basis to characterise trajectories of change in lake properties e.g., water quality, physical structure, hydrological regime and ecological behaviour. This approach furthermore provides the evidence base to understand the relative importance of climatic forcing and/or changing catchment processes, e.g. land cover and soil moisture data, which coupled with climate data provide the basis to model regional water balance and runoff estimates over time. Using examples derived primarily from the Danube Basin but also other parts of the World, we demonstrate the power of the approach and its utility to assess the sensitivity of lake systems to environmental change, and hence better manage these key resources in the future

Surface Soil Moisture Retrievals from Remote Sensing:Current Status, Products & Future Trends

Advances in Earth Observation (EO) technology, particularly over the last two decades, have shown that soil moisture content (SMC) can be measured to some degree or other by all regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, and a variety of techniques have been proposed to facilitate this purpose. In this review we provide a synthesis of the efforts made during the last 20 years or so towards the estimation of surface SMC exploiting EO imagery, with a particular emphasis on retrievals from microwave sensors. Rather than replicating previous overview works, we provide a comprehensive and critical exploration of all the major approaches employed for retrieving SMC in a range of different global ecosystems. In this framework, we consider the newest techniques developed within optical and thermal infrared remote sensing, active and passive microwave domains, as well as assimilation or synergistic approaches. Future trends and prospects of EO for the accurate determination of SMC from space are subject to key challenges, some of which are identified and discussed within. It is evident from this review that there is potential for more accurate estimation of SMC exploiting EO technology, particularly so, by exploring the use of synergistic approaches between a variety of EO instruments. Given the importance of SMC in Earth’s land surface interactions and to a large range of applications, one can appreciate that its accurate estimation is critical in addressing key scientific and practical challenges in today’s world such as food security, sustainable planning and management of water resources. The launch of new, more sophisticated satellites strengthens the development of innovative research approaches and scientific inventions that will result in a range of pioneering and ground-breaking advancements in the retrievals of soil moisture from space

Ground, Proximal, and Satellite Remote Sensing of Soil Moisture

Soil moisture (SM) is a key hydrologic state variable that is of significant importance for numerous Earth and environmental science applications that directly impact the global environment and human society. Potential applications include, but are not limited to, forecasting of weather and climate variability; prediction and monitoring of drought conditions; management and allocation of water resources; agricultural plant production and alleviation of famine; prevention of natural disasters such as wild fires, landslides, floods, and dust storms; or monitoring of ecosystem response to climate change. Because of the importance and wide‐ranging applicability of highly variable spatial and temporal SM information that links the water, energy, and carbon cycles, significant efforts and resources have been devoted in recent years to advance SM measurement and monitoring capabilities from the point to the global scales. This review encompasses recent advances and the state‐of‐the‐art of ground, proximal, and novel SM remote sensing techniques at various spatial and temporal scales and identifies critical future research needs and directions to further advance and optimize technology, analysis and retrieval methods, and the application of SM information to improve the understanding of critical zone moisture dynamics. Despite the impressive progress over the last decade, there are still many opportunities and needs to, for example, improve SM retrieval from remotely sensed optical, thermal, and microwave data and opportunities for novel applications of SM information for water resources management, sustainable environmental development, and food security

Modeling L-Band Microwave Emission From Soil-Vegetation System

During a field campaign covering the 2002 corn growing season, a dual polarized tower mounted L-band (1.4 GHz) radiometer (LRAD) provided brightness temperature (T¬B) measurements at preset intervals, incidence and azimuth angles. These radiometer measurements were supported by an extensive characterization of land surface variables including soil moisture, soil temperature, vegetation biomass, and surface roughness. During the period from May 22, 2002 to August 30, 2002 a range of vegetation water content (W) of 0.0 to 4.3 kg m-2, ten days of radiometer and ground measurements were available. Using this data set, the effects of corn vegetation on surface emissions are investigated by means of a semi-empirical radiative transfer model. Additionally, the impact of roughness on the surface emission is quantified using T¬B measurements over bare soil conditions. Subsequently, the estimated roughness parameters, ground measurements and horizontally (H)-polarized TB are employed to invert the H-polarized transmissivity (γh) for the monitored corn growing season

Soil Moisture Workshop

The Soil Moisture Workshop was held at the United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Library in Beltsville, Maryland on January 17-19, 1978. The objectives of the Workshop were to evaluate the state of the art of remote sensing of soil moisture; examine the needs of potential users; and make recommendations concerning the future of soil moisture research and development. To accomplish these objectives, small working groups were organized in advance of the Workshop to prepare position papers. These papers served as the basis for this report

L Band Brightness Temperature Observations over a Corn Canopy during the Entire Growth Cycle

During a field campaign covering the 2002 corn growing season, a dual polarized tower mounted L-band (1.4 GHz) radiometer (LRAD) provided brightness temperature (TB) measurements at preset intervals, incidence and azimuth angles. These radiometer measurements were supported by an extensive characterization of land surface variables including soil moisture, soil temperature, vegetation biomass, and surface roughness. In the period May 22 to August 30, ten days of radiometer and ground measurements are available for a corn canopy with a vegetation water content (W) range of 0.0 to 4.3 kg m−2. Using this data set, the effects of corn vegetation on surface emissions are investigated by means of a semi-empirical radiative transfer model. Additionally, the impact of roughness on the surface emission is quantified using TB measurements over bare soil conditions. Subsequently, the estimated roughness parameters, ground measurements and horizontally (H)-polarized TB are employed to invert the H-polarized transmissivity (γh) for the monitored corn growing season

Applications of Microwaves to Remote Sensing of Terrain

A survey and study was conducted to define the role that microwaves may play in the measurement of a variety of terrain-related parameters. The survey consisted of discussions with many users and researchers in the field of remote sensing. In addition, a survey questionnaire was prepared and replies were solicited from these and other users and researchers. The results of the survey, and associated bibliography, were studied and conclusions were drawn as to the usefulness of radiometric systems for remote sensing of terrain

Earth observation-based operational estimation of soil moisture and evapotranspiration for agricultural crops in support of sustainable water management

Global information on the spatio-temporal variation of parameters driving the Earth’s terrestrial water and energy cycles, such as evapotranspiration (ET) rates and surface soil moisture (SSM), is of key significance. The water and energy cycles underpin global food and water security and need to be fully understood as the climate changes. In the last few decades, Earth Observation (EO) technology has played an increasingly important role in determining both ET and SSM. This paper reviews the state of the art in the use specifically of operational EO of both ET and SSM estimates. We discuss the key technical and operational considerations to derive accurate estimates of those parameters from space. The review suggests significant progress has been made in the recent years in retrieving ET and SSM operationally; yet, further work is required to optimize parameter accuracy and to improve the operational capability of services developed using EO data. Emerging applications on which ET/SSM operational products may be included in the context specifically in relation to agriculture are also highlighted; the operational use of those operational products in such applications remains to be seen

Developing A Remote Sensing Algorithm For Deriving Soil Moisture From Spectral Reflectance

Wet weather cycle since 1993 has brought ground water level closer to the surface of the soil in many areas in the Red River Valley (RRV) of the North basin. Many farmers have to delay spring plantation or autumn harvest due to excessive moisture in\u27, their farmland. In such case, it becomes increasingly important to have timely and accurate information on the soil moisture conditions. Conventional soil moisture measurement techniques are point-based that results in poor spatial representation of soil moisture. Remote sensing techniques offer many potential advantages over traditional means such as repetitive coverage and areal representation. The objective of this study was to develop a remote sensing algorithm to be used by Landsat 5 TM and Aerocam to map surface soil moisture during the early stage of growing season in the RRV of the North basin. Soil samples were collected and hyperspectral reflectances of the soil at various moisture levels were recorded under laboratory conditions. The first two experiments were carried out with Halogen lamps as the source of light whereas the third experiment was performed outdoor. Landsat 5 TM and Aerocam spectral response function were applied to the measured hyperspectral values to simulate the multispectral reflectance for each sensor. The results from these three experiments were consistent to each other and therefore were binned together. By using simple mathematical computations, band or band combinations that best estimates the surface soil moisture was found out. For validation, soil moisture was measured in different agricultural fields in the RR V during the time of Landsat overpass, and soil moisture was continuously monitored in a farm field in Fairmount, Richland County, North Dakota. The difference of bands 5 and 1 was shown to correlate best with soil moisture concentration while the NIR band itself is the best for Aerocam. The estimated soil moisture using Landsat 5 TM agreed with the measurements with an R2= 0.90. The model performed well in dry or moderately wet conditions, but slightly underestimated by 3-4% for excessively wet conditions of more than 40% soil moisture in the field. The evaluation at the Fairmount experimental field also showed that the model performed well. Field verification for Aerocam imagery remained incomplete due to lack of irradiance value

L Band Brightness Temperature Observations Over a Corn Canopy During the Entire Growth Cycle

During a field campaign covering the 2002 corn growing season, a dual polarized tower mounted L-band (1.4 GHz) radiometer (LRAD) provided brightness temperature (T(sub B)) measurements at preset intervals, incidence and azimuth angles. These radiometer measurements were supported by an extensive characterization of land surface variables including soil moisture, soil temperature, vegetation biomass, and surface roughness. During the period from May 22, 2002 to August 30, 2002 a range of vegetation water content (W) of 0.0 to 4.3 kg/square m, ten days of radiometer and ground measurements were available. Using this data set, the effects of corn vegetation on surface emissions are investigated by means of a semi-empirical radiative transfer model. Additionally, the impact of roughness on the surface emission is quantified using T(sub B) measurements over bare soil conditions. Subsequently, the estimated roughness parameters, ground measurements and horizontally (H)-polarized T(sub B) are employed to invert the H-polarized transmissivity (gamma-h) for the monitored corn growing season