ESTIMATION OF SOIL MOISTURE WITH AIRBORNE L-BAND MICROWAVE RADIOMETER

Soil moisture plays an important role in the land-atmosphere energy balance because it governs the partitioning of energy through latent heat fluxes or evapotranspiration. From the numerous studies, it is evident that the L-band radiometer is a useful and effective tool to measure soil moisture. The objective of the study is to develop and to verify the soil moisture retrieval algorithms for the L-band radiometer system. Through the radiometer-observed brightness temperature, surface emissivity and reflectivity can be derived, and, hence, soil moisture. We collect field and L-band airborne radiometer data from washita92, SGP97 and SGP99 experiments to assist the development of the retrieval algorithms. Upon launching the satellite L-band radiometer such as ESA-sponsored SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) mission, the developed algorithms may be used to study and monitor globe soil moisture change.