New publication: Exploring Sentinel-1 backscatter time series over the Atacama Desert (Chile) for seasonal dynamics of surface soil moisture

New publication: Exploring Sentinel-1 backscatter time series over the Atacama Desert (Chile) for seasonal dynamics of surface soil moisture

m

publication

December 22, 2022

The Earth Observation Research Hub just published a new paper titled “Exploring Sentinel-1 backscatter time series over the Atacama Desert (Chile) for seasonal dynamics of surface soil moisture” by Tobias Ullmann, Thomas Jagdhuber (DLR & Uni. Augsburg), Dirk Hoffmeister (Uni. Köln), Simon Matthias May (Uni. Köln), Roland Baumhauer (Uni. Würzburg), and Olaf Bubenzer (Uni. Heidelberg) in the journal “Remote Sensing of Environment” (RSE).

In this contribution Sentinel-1 time series is compared to in situ soil moisture measurements and sediment-profile records across the Atacama Desert (Chile). For most locailties weak linear relationship between soil moisture and SAR intensities is found; however, exceptions are present for sites characterized by thick atmospheric dust deposits on top of subsurface cemented crusts. At these sites, strong inverse linear correlations (R² > 0.8) are found between soil mositure and SAR intensity. These anomalies are shown to be caused by subsurface scattering effects; low changes in soil moisture (around 2.5% on average) cause high changes in SAR intensity (up to 5.5 dB in VH).

 

Read the full article (open access) here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0034425722005193

 

you may also like:

New Article on Biogeomorphic Tipping Points

New Article on Biogeomorphic Tipping Points

EORC PI Florian Betz co-authored a publication on biogeomorphic tipping points arising from the DFG funded project "fluvial biogeomorphology across multiple scales". In the publication led by PhD student Isabell Becker from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, a...

How does seasonal climate affect Maize cultivation in East Africa

How does seasonal climate affect Maize cultivation in East Africa

Our PhD student Adomas Liepa published new research on the impacts of seasonal differences in the local climate on maize cropping systems in East Africa. This study, conducted in collaboration with partners from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the International...

New publication on time-series web application

New publication on time-series web application

Our PhD student Luisa Pflumm published an article on "GEE-PICX: generating cloud-free Sentinel-2 and Landsat image composites and spectral indices for custom areas and time frames – a Google Earth Engine web application." in Ecography. Check out the contente here from...