Surface moisture and satellite microwave observations in semiarid southern Africa

Journal Article · Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1992 · Water Resources Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/91WR02765· OSTI ID:5150566

Owe, M; Chang, A T.C. ^[1]; Van de Griend, A A ^[2]

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1. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States)
2. Free Univ., Amsterdam (Netherlands)

Nimbus 7 scanning multichannel microwave radiometer 6.6-GHz passive microwave data were studied in relation to large-scale soil moisture estimates over a 3-year period in southeastern Bostwana. An extensive data base of weekly surface soil moisture measurements was used with meteorological data to estimate pixel average soil moisture on a daily basis. The influence of the vegetation canopy on the surface emissivity was studied by partitioning the data set into classes on the basis of the normalized difference vegetation index. After correcting for the vegetation optical depth, a correlation of r = 0.84 was established between the normalized brightness temperature observations and surface soil moisture for the 3-year period.

• OSTI ID: 5150566
• Journal Information: Water Resources Research; (United States), Vol. 28:3; ISSN 0043-1397
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
ARID LANDS
REMOTE SENSING
SOUTH AFRICA
DROUGHTS
CANOPIES
MOISTURE
SATELLITES
SOILS
AFRICA
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
540210* - Environment
Terrestrial- Basic Studies- (1990-)
290301 - Energy Planning & Policy- Environment
Health
& Safety- Regional & Global Environmental Aspects- (1992-)