Mapping surface soil moisture using an aircraft-based passive microwave instrument: Algorithm and example

Microwave remote sensing at L-band (21 cm wavelength) can provide a direct measurement of the surface soil moisture for a range of cover conditions and within reasonable error bounds. Surface soil moisture observations are rare and, therefore, the use of these data in hydrology and other disciplines has not been fully explored or developed. Without satellite-based observing systems, the only way to collect these data in large-scale studies is with an aircraft platform. Recently, aircraft systems such as the push broom microwave radiometer (PBMR) and the electronically scanned thinned array radiometer (ESTAR) have been developed to facilitate such investigations. In addition, field experiments have attempted to collect the passive microwave data as part of an integrated set of hydrologic data. One of the most ambitious of these investigations was the Washita'92 experiment. Preliminary analysis of these data has shown that the microwave observations are indicative of deterministic spatial and temporal variations in the surface soil moisture. Users of these data should be aware of a number of issues related to using aircraft-based systems and practical approaches to applying soil moisture estimation algorithms to large data sets. This paper outlines the process of mapping surface soil moisture from an aircraft-based passive microwave radiometer system for the Washita'92 experiment.