Field-scale evaluation of remote sensing soil moisture retrievals using a multi-satellite approach

Abstract

ABSTRACT Nine remote sensing-based surface soil moisture (SSM) estimation models using images from Landsat 8, Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1 satellites were compared. To evaluate these models, we measured SSM at 179 locations in a 50-ha sunflower field . The result showed that the Water Cloud-based model, a semi-empirical regression model, which used the synergy of Landsat 8 and Sentinel-1 data, was the best model, with an R 2 of 0.73 and RMSE of 0.053 m3/m3. In sum, with the integration of images from multiple satellites, soil moisture maps with suitable spatial resolutions were retrieved that may be used for irrigation planning.