Potential Soil Moisture Products from the Aquarius Radiometer and Scatterometer Using an Observing System Simulation Experiment

Luo, Yan; Feng, Xia; Houser, Paul; Anantharaj, Valentine G; Fan, Xingang; De Lannoy, Gabrielle; Zhan, Xiwu; Dabbiru, Lalitha

doi:10.5194/gi-2-113-2013

Potential Soil Moisture Products from the Aquarius Radiometer and Scatterometer Using an Observing System Simulation Experiment

Journal Article · Mon Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 2012 · Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-2-113-2013· OSTI ID:1157092

Luo, Yan ^[1]; Feng, Xia ^[2]; Houser, Paul ^[2]; Anantharaj, Valentine G ^[3]; Fan, Xingang ^[4]; De Lannoy, Gabrielle ^[5]; Zhan, Xiwu ^[6]; Dabbiru, Lalitha ^[7]

I.M. Systems Group at NOAA/NCEP/EMC
George Mason University
ORNL
Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green
Ghent University, Belgium
NOAA/NESDIS Center for Satellite Applications and Research
Mississippi State University (MSU)

Using an observing system simulation experiment (OSSE), we investigate the potential soil moisture retrieval capability of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Aquarius radiometer (L-band 1.413 GHz) and scatterometer (L-band, 1.260 GHz). We estimate potential errors in soil moisture retrievals and identify the sources that could cause those errors. The OSSE system includes (i) a land surface model in the NASA Land Information System, (ii) a radiative transfer and backscatter model, (iii) a realistic orbital sampling model, and (iv) an inverse soil moisture retrieval model. We execute the OSSE over a 1000 2200 km2 region in the central United States, including the Red and Arkansas river basins. Spatial distributions of soil moisture retrieved from the radiometer and scatterometer are close to the synthetic truth. High root mean square errors (RMSEs) of radiometer retrievals are found over the heavily vegetated regions, while large RMSEs of scatterometer retrievals are scattered over the entire domain. The temporal variations of soil moisture are realistically captured over a sparely vegetated region with correlations 0.98 and 0.63, and RMSEs 1.28% and 8.23% vol/vol for radiometer and scatterometer, respectively. Over the densely vegetated region, soil moisture exhibits larger temporal variation than the truth, leading to correlation 0.70 and 0.67, respectively, and RMSEs 9.49% and 6.09% vol/vol respectively. The domain-averaged correlations and RMSEs suggest that radiometer is more accurate than scatterometer in retrieving soil moisture. The analysis also demonstrates that the accuracy of the retrieved soil moisture is affected by vegetation coverage and spatial aggregation.

Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF)

Sponsoring Organization:: SC USDOE - Office of Science (SC)

DOE Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1157092

Journal Information:: Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems (Online), Journal Name: Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems (Online) Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 2; ISSN 2193-0864

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Potential Soil Moisture Products from the Aquarius Radiometer and Scatterometer Using an Observing System Simulation Experiment

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