Estimating Surface Soil Moisture from TerraSAR-X Data over Two Small Catchments in the Sahelian Part of Western Niger

Remote Sensing

Nicolas Baghdadi⁴  Pauline Camus⁴  Nicolas Beaugendre²  Oumarou Malam Issa¹  Mehrez Zribi⁵  Jean François Desprats⁶  Jean Louis Rajot⁷  Chadi Abdallah³ 

[1] Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne, GEGENA EA 3795, 51687 Reims, France; E-Mail:;SIRS, 59650 Villeneuve d’Ascq, France; E-Mails:;Remote Sensing Centre, Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research, Beirut, Lebanon; E-Mail:;CEMAGREF, UMR TETIS, 500 rue François Breton, 34093 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; E-Mail:;CESBIO, 31401 Toulouse, France; E-Mail:;BRGM, RNSC, 34000 Montpellier, France; E-Mail:;IRD, BIOEMCO, Niamey, Niger; E-Mail:

关键词: soil moisture estimation;    Sahel;    TerraSAR-X;    biological crust;   

DOI  :  10.3390/rs3061266

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The objective of this study is to validate an approach based on the change detection in multitemporal TerraSAR images (X-band) for mapping soil moisture in the Sahelian area. In situ measurements were carried out simultaneously with TerraSAR-X acquisitions on two study sites in Niger. The results show the need for comparing the difference between the rainy season image and a reference image acquired in the dry season. The use of two images enables a reduction of the roughness effects. The soils of plateaus covered with erosion crusts are dry throughout the year while the fallows show more significant moisture during the rainy season. The accuracy on the estimate of soil moisture is about 2.3% (RMSE) in comparison with in situ moisture contents.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2011 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.