Satellite Remote Sensing of Soil Moisture
for Hydrological Applications: A Review
of Issues to Be Solved
Lu Zhuo
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
2 Soil Moisture Measuring Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
2.1 In Situ Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
2.2 Satellite Remote Sensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
3 Hydrological Evaluation of Satellite Soil Moisture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
4 SMOS Descending and Ascending Overpasses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
5 Error Distribution Modelling of SMOS Soil Moisture Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
6 The Need for New Hydrological Soil Moisture Product Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
7 Discussion and Conclusions . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Abstract Accurate soil moisture indicator is critically important for hydrological
applications such as water resource management and hydrological modelling.
Modern satellite remote sensing has shown a huge potential for providing soil
moisture measurements at a large scale. However its effective utilisation in the
aforementioned areas still needs comprehensive research. This chapter focuses
on exploring the advances and potential issues in the current application of satellite
soil moisture observations in hydrological modelling. It has been proposed
that hydrological application of soil moisture data requires the data relevant to
hydrology. In order to meet the requirement, the following two research tasks
are suggested: the first is to carry out comprehensive assessments of satellite soil
moisture observations for hydrological modelling, not merely based on evaluations
against point-based in situ measurements; the second is that a soil moisture product
(e.g. soil moisture deficit) directly applicable to hydrological modelling should
L. Zhuo (*)
WEMRC, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
e-mail: lu.zhuo@bristol.ac.uk
Andrea Scozzari, Steve Mounce, Dawei Han, Francesco Soldovieri,
and Dimitri Solomatine (eds.), ICT for Smart Water Systems: Measurements and
Data Science, Hdb Env Chem (2021) 102: 259–282, https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2019_394,
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019, Published online: 28 September 2019
259
for Hydrological Applications: A Review
of Issues to Be Solved
Lu Zhuo
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
2 Soil Moisture Measuring Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
2.1 In Situ Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
2.2 Satellite Remote Sensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
3 Hydrological Evaluation of Satellite Soil Moisture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
4 SMOS Descending and Ascending Overpasses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
5 Error Distribution Modelling of SMOS Soil Moisture Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
6 The Need for New Hydrological Soil Moisture Product Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
7 Discussion and Conclusions . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Abstract Accurate soil moisture indicator is critically important for hydrological
applications such as water resource management and hydrological modelling.
Modern satellite remote sensing has shown a huge potential for providing soil
moisture measurements at a large scale. However its effective utilisation in the
aforementioned areas still needs comprehensive research. This chapter focuses
on exploring the advances and potential issues in the current application of satellite
soil moisture observations in hydrological modelling. It has been proposed
that hydrological application of soil moisture data requires the data relevant to
hydrology. In order to meet the requirement, the following two research tasks
are suggested: the first is to carry out comprehensive assessments of satellite soil
moisture observations for hydrological modelling, not merely based on evaluations
against point-based in situ measurements; the second is that a soil moisture product
(e.g. soil moisture deficit) directly applicable to hydrological modelling should
L. Zhuo (*)
WEMRC, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
e-mail: lu.zhuo@bristol.ac.uk
Andrea Scozzari, Steve Mounce, Dawei Han, Francesco Soldovieri,
and Dimitri Solomatine (eds.), ICT for Smart Water Systems: Measurements and
Data Science, Hdb Env Chem (2021) 102: 259–282, https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2019_394,
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019, Published online: 28 September 2019
259