Soil moisture mapping using Gnss-R and L-band microwave radiometry: Instruments and techniques developed at UPC-Barcelonatech

Abstract

Soil Moisture (SM) is one of the Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) needed to better understand the water cycle, to assess climate change, and it is crucial to monitor floods and droughts, in agriculture, etc. SM mapping at large scale is only feasible using remote sensing sensors for Earth observation. In this paper, the different soil moisture mapping techniques are first revised, then SM mapping using L-band microwave radiometers and GNSS-Reflectometers are presented using UPC-developed techniques and airborne and spaceborne instruments. Downscaled SM mapping techniques are described in detail in the companion paper by Pablos et al. titled "Two disaggregation algorithms to estimate soil moisture at moderate (1 km and 300 m) and at high (60 m) resolution: Applications over the North of Africa" presented also at this conference.