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Microwave Indices from Active and Passive Sensors for Remote Sensing Applications

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A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2018) | Viewed by 88410

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Dr. Emanuele Santi

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IFAC-CNR, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Firenze, Italy
Interests: microwave remote sensing; soil moisture; vegetation biomass; snow water equivalent; SAR and microwave radiometers; GNSS-R, retrieval algorithms development; machine learning
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Simonetta Paloscia

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Guest Editor

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Institute of Applied Physics, Florence, Italy
Interests: microwave remote sensing; soil moisture; vegetation biomass; snow water equivalent; SAR; microwave radiometry
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Dear Colleagues,

Past research well assessed the capabilities of satellite sensors operating at microwaves, both active (SAR, Scatterometers) and passive (Radiometers), for the remote sensing monitoring of Earth surface. Besides brightness temperature and backscattering coefficient, Microwave Indices (MI), defined as a combination of microwave data collected at different frequencies and polarizations, revealed a good sensitivity to several parameters related to the hydrological cycle such as the surface soil moisture (SMC), the Vegetation Water Content (VWC) and the Snow Depth (SD) and its Water Equivalent (SWE). The differences between microwave backscattering and emission at more frequencies and polarizations have been well related to these parameters, so that operational retrieval algorithms have been developed basing on the linear combination of active or passive microwave acquisitions.

This special issue aims at providing an overview of Microwave signal capabilities in estimating the main land parameters of the hydrological cycle, e.g. soil moisture, vegetation water content and snow water equivalent on both local and global scales, with a particular focus on the MI applications.

Dr. Emanuele Santi
Dr. Simonetta Paloscia
Guest Editors

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Keywords

Microwave Indices
SAR
Radiometers
Scatterometers
Hydrological Cycle
Soil Moisture Content (SMC)
Vegetation Water content (VWC)
Snow Depth and Snow Water Equivalent

Published Papers (11 papers)

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Editorial

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3 pages, 154 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Editorial for the Special Issue “Microwave Indices from Active and Passive Sensors for Remote Sensing Applications”

by Simonetta Paloscia and Emanuele Santi

Remote Sens. 2019, 11(5), 561; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11050561 - 07 Mar 2019

Viewed by 2499

Abstract

Since the early 1980s, the capabilities of satellite sensors operating at microwaves for the remote sensing of Earth’s surface have been widely assessed in a number of studies (e [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Indices from Active and Passive Sensors for Remote Sensing Applications)

Research

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24 pages, 5841 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploiting Time Series of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 Imagery to Detect Meadow Phenology in Mountain Regions

by Laura Stendardi, Stein Rune Karlsen, Georg Niedrist, Renato Gerdol, Marc Zebisch, Mattia Rossi and Claudia Notarnicola

Remote Sens. 2019, 11(5), 542; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11050542 - 06 Mar 2019

Cited by 70 | Viewed by 8760

Abstract

A synergic integration of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and optical time series offers an unprecedented opportunity in vegetation phenology monitoring for mountain agriculture management. In this paper, we performed a correlation analysis of radar signal to vegetation and soil conditions by using a time series of Sentinel-1 C-band dual-polarized (VV and VH) SAR images acquired in the South Tyrol region (Italy) from October 2014 to September 2016. Together with Sentinel-1 images, we exploited corresponding Sentinel-2 images and ground measurements. Results show that Sentinel-1 cross-polarized VH backscattering coefficients have a strong vegetation contribution and are well correlated with the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values retrieved from optical sensors, thus allowing the extraction of meadow phenological phases. Particularly for the Start Of Season (SOS) at low altitudes, the mean difference in days between Sentinel-1 and ground sensors is compatible with the acquisition time of the SAR sensor. However, the results show a decrease in accuracy with increasing altitude. The same trend is observed for senescence. The main outcomes of our investigations in terms of inter-satellite comparison show that Sentinel-1 is less effective than Sentinel-2 in detecting the SOS. At the same time, Sentinel-1 is as robust as Sentinel-2 in defining mowing events. Our study shows that SAR-Optical data integration is a promising approach for phenology detection in mountain regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Indices from Active and Passive Sensors for Remote Sensing Applications)

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24 pages, 11659 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Soil Moisture in the Biebrza Wetlands Retrieved from Sentinel-1 Imagery

by Katarzyna Dabrowska-Zielinska, Jan Musial, Alicja Malinska, Maria Budzynska, Radoslaw Gurdak, Wojciech Kiryla, Maciej Bartold and Patryk Grzybowski

Remote Sens. 2018, 10(12), 1979; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10121979 - 07 Dec 2018

Cited by 56 | Viewed by 6968

Abstract

The objective of the study was to estimate soil moisture (SM) from Sentinel-1 (S-1) satellite images acquired over wetlands. The study was carried out during the years 2015–2017 in the Biebrza Wetlands, situated in north-eastern Poland. At the Biebrza Wetlands, two Sentinel-1 validation sites were established, covering grassland and marshland biomes, where a network of 18 stations for soil moisture measurement was deployed. The sites were funded by the European Space Agency (ESA), and the collected measurements are available through the International Soil Moisture Network (ISMN). The SAR data of the Sentinel-1 satellite with VH (vertical transmit and horizontal receive) and VV (vertical transmit and vertical receive) polarization were applied to SM retrieval for a broad range of vegetation and soil moisture conditions. The methodology is based on research into the effect of vegetation on backscatter (σ°) changes under different soil moisture and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values. The NDVI was derived from the optical imagery of a MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) sensor onboard the Terra satellite. It was found that the state of the vegetation expressed by NDVI can be described by the indices such as the difference between σ° VH and VV, or the ratio of σ° VV/VH, as calculated from the Sentinel-1 images in the logarithmic domain. The most significant correlation coefficient for soil moisture was found for data that was acquired from the ascending tracks of the Sentinel-1 satellite, characterized by the lowest incidence angle, and SM at a depth of 5 cm. The study demonstrated that the use of the inversion approach, which was applied to the newly developed models using Water Cloud Model (WCM) that includes the derived indices based on S-1, allowed the estimation of SM for wetlands with reasonable accuracy (10 vol. %). The developed soil moisture retrieval algorithms based on S-1 data are suited for wetland ecosystems, where soil moisture values are several times higher than in agricultural areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Indices from Active and Passive Sensors for Remote Sensing Applications)

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15 pages, 6123 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of the Radar Vegetation Index and Potential Improvements

by Christoph Szigarski, Thomas Jagdhuber, Martin Baur, Christian Thiel, Marie Parrens, Jean-Pierre Wigneron, Maria Piles and Dara Entekhabi

Remote Sens. 2018, 10(11), 1776; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10111776 - 09 Nov 2018

Cited by 44 | Viewed by 12721

Abstract

The Radar Vegetation Index (RVI) is a well-established microwave metric of vegetation cover. The index utilizes measured linear scattering intensities from co- and cross-polarization and is normalized to ideally range from 0 to 1, increasing with vegetation cover. At long wavelengths (L-band) microwave scattering does not only contain information coming from vegetation scattering, but also from soil scattering (moisture & roughness) and therefore the standard formulation of RVI needs to be revised. Using global level SMAP L-band radar data, we illustrate that RVI runs up to 1.2, due to the pre-factor in the standard formulation not being adjusted to the scattering mechanisms at these low frequencies. Improvements on the RVI are subsequently proposed to obtain a normalized value range, to remove soil scattering influences as well as to mask out regions with dominant soil scattering at L-band (sparse or no vegetation cover). Two purely vegetation-based RVIs (called RVII and RVIII), are obtained by subtracting a forward modeled, attenuated soil scattering contribution from the measured backscattering intensities. Active and passive microwave information is used jointly to obtain the scattering contribution of the soil, using a physics-based multi-sensor approach; simulations from a particle model for polarimetric vegetation backscattering are utilized to calculate vegetation-based RVI-values without any soil scattering contribution. Results show that, due to the pre-factor in the standard formulation of RVI the index runs up to 1.2, atypical for an index normally ranging between zero and one. Correlation analysis between the improved radar vegetation indices (standard RVI and the indices with potential improvements RVII and RVIII) are used to evaluate the degree of independence of the indices from surface roughness and soil moisture contributions. The improved indices RVII and RVIII show reduced dependence on soil roughness and soil moisture. All RVI-indices examined indicate a coupled correlation to vegetation water content (plant moisture) as well as leaf area index (plant structure) and no single dependency, as often assumed. These results might improve the use of polarimetric radar signatures for mapping global vegetation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Indices from Active and Passive Sensors for Remote Sensing Applications)

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20 pages, 7909 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

AMSR2 Soil Moisture Downscaling Using Temperature and Vegetation Data

by Bin Fang, Venkat Lakshmi, Rajat Bindlish and Thomas J. Jackson

Remote Sens. 2018, 10(10), 1575; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10101575 - 01 Oct 2018

Cited by 40 | Viewed by 5818

Abstract

Soil moisture (SM) applications in terrestrial hydrology require higher spatial resolution soil moisture products than those provided by passive microwave remote sensing instruments (grid resolution of 9 km or larger). In this investigation, an innovative algorithm that uses visible/infrared remote sensing observations to downscale Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) coarse spatial resolution SM products was developed and implemented for use with data provided by the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2). The method is based on using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) modulated relationships between day/night SM and temperature change at corresponding times. Land surface model output variables from the North America Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS), remote sensing data from the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) were used in this methodology. The functional relationships developed using NLDAS data at a grid resolution of 12.5 km were applied to downscale AMSR2 JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) SM product (25 km) using MODIS land surface temperature (LST) and NDVI observations (1 km) to produce the 1 km SM estimates. The downscaled SM estimates were validated by comparing them with ISMN (International Soil Moisture Network) in situ SM in the Black Bear–Red Rock watershed, central Oklahoma between 2015–2017. The overall statistical variables of the downscaled AMSR2 SM validation R², slope, RMSE and bias, demonstrate good accuracy. The downscaled SM better characterized the spatial and temporal variability of SM at watershed scales than the original SM product. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Indices from Active and Passive Sensors for Remote Sensing Applications)

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19 pages, 8907 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sensitivity of Sentinel-1 Backscatter to Vegetation Dynamics: An Austrian Case Study

by Mariette Vreugdenhil, Wolfgang Wagner, Bernhard Bauer-Marschallinger, Isabella Pfeil, Irene Teubner, Christoph Rüdiger and Peter Strauss

Remote Sens. 2018, 10(9), 1396; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10091396 - 01 Sep 2018

Cited by 236 | Viewed by 14656

Abstract

Crop monitoring is of great importance for e.g., yield prediction and increasing water use efficiency. The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission operated by the European Space Agency provides the opportunity to monitor Earth’s surface using radar at high spatial and temporal resolution. Sentinel-1’s Synthetic Aperture Radar provides co- and cross-polarized backscatter, enabling the calculation of microwave indices. In this study, we assess the potential of Sentinel-1 VV and VH backscatter and their ratio VH/VV, the cross ratio (CR), to monitor crop conditions. A quantitative assessment is provided based on in situ reference data of vegetation variables for different crops under varying meteorological conditions. Vegetation Water Content (VWC), biomass, Leaf Area Index (LAI) and height are measured in situ for oilseed-rape, corn and winter cereals at different fields during two growing seasons. To quantify the sensitivity of backscatter and microwave indices to vegetation dynamics, linear and exponential models and machine learning methods have been applied to the Sentinel-1 data and in situ measurements. Using an exponential model, the CR can account for 87% and 63% of the variability in VWC for corn and winter cereals. In oilseed-rape, the coefficient of determination (

R^{2}

) is lower (

R^{2}

= 0.34) due to the large difference in VWC between the two growing seasons and changes in vegetation structure that affect backscatter. Findings from the Random Forest analysis, which uses backscatter, microwave indices and soil moisture as input variables, show that CR is by and large the most important variable to estimate VWC. This study demonstrates, based on a quantitative analysis, the large potential of microwave indices for vegetation monitoring of VWC and phenology. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Indices from Active and Passive Sensors for Remote Sensing Applications)

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17 pages, 1895 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Using SAR-Derived Vegetation Descriptors in a Water Cloud Model to Improve Soil Moisture Retrieval

by Junhua Li and Shusen Wang

Remote Sens. 2018, 10(9), 1370; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10091370 - 29 Aug 2018

Cited by 66 | Viewed by 7891

Abstract

The water cloud model (WCM) is a widely used radar backscatter model applied to SAR images to retrieve soil moisture over vegetated areas. The WCM needs vegetation descriptors to account for the impact of vegetation on SAR backscatter. The commonly used vegetation descriptors in WCM, such as Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), are sometimes difficult to obtain due to the constraints in data availability in in-situ measurements or weather dependency in optical remote sensing. To improve soil moisture retrieval, this study investigates the feasibility of using all-weather SAR derived vegetation descriptors in WCM. The in-situ data observed at an agricultural crop region south of Winnipeg in Canada, RapidEye optical images and dual-polarized Radarsat-2 SAR images acquired in growing season were used for WCM model calibration and test. Vegetation descriptors studied include HV polarization backscattering coefficient (

σ_{H V}^{°}

) and Radar Vegetation Index (RVI) derived from SAR imagery, and NDVI derived from optical imagery. The results show that

σ_{H V}^{°}

achieved similar results as NDVI but slightly better than RVI, with a root mean square error of 0.069 m³/m³ and a correlation coefficient of 0.59 between the retrieved and observed soil moisture. The use of

σ_{H V}^{°}

can overcome the constraints of the commonly used vegetation descriptors and reduce additional data requirements (e.g., NDVI from optical sensors) in WCM, thus improving soil moisture retrieval and making WCM feasible for operational use. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Indices from Active and Passive Sensors for Remote Sensing Applications)

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26 pages, 47069 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Soil Moisture from Fusion of Scatterometer and SAR: Closing the Scale Gap with Temporal Filtering

by Bernhard Bauer-Marschallinger, Christoph Paulik, Simon Hochstöger, Thomas Mistelbauer, Sara Modanesi, Luca Ciabatta, Christian Massari, Luca Brocca and Wolfgang Wagner

Remote Sens. 2018, 10(7), 1030; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10071030 - 29 Jun 2018

Cited by 73 | Viewed by 11445

Abstract

Soil moisture is a key environmental variable, important to e.g., farmers, meteorologists, and disaster management units. We fuse surface soil moisture (SSM) estimates from spatio-temporally complementary radar sensors through temporal filtering of their joint signal and obtain a kilometre-scale, daily soil water content product named SCATSAR-SWI. With 25 km Metop ASCAT SSM and 1 km Sentinel-1 SSM serving as input, the SCATSAR-SWI is globally applicable and achieves daily full coverage over operated areas. We employ a near-real-time-capable SCATSAR-SWI algorithm on a fused 3 year ASCAT-Sentinel-1-SSM data cube over Italy, obtaining a consistent set of model parameters, unperturbed by coverage discontinuities. An evaluation of a therefrom generated SCATSAR-SWI dataset, involving a 1 km Soil Water Balance Model (SWBM) over Umbria, yields comprehensively high agreement with the reference data (median R = 0.61 vs. in situ; 0.71 vs. model; 0.83 vs. ASCAT SSM). While the Sentinel-1 signal is attenuated to some extent, the ASCAT’s signal dynamics are fully transferred to the SCATSAR-SWI and benefit from the Sentinel-1 parametrisation. Using the SM2RAIN approach, the SCATSAR-SWI shows excellent capability to reproduce 5 day-accumulated rainfall over Italy, with R = 0.89 against observed rainfall. The SCATSAR-SWI is currently in preparation towards operational product dissemination in the Copernicus Global Land Service (CGLS). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Indices from Active and Passive Sensors for Remote Sensing Applications)

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28 pages, 15647 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Retrieval of Effective Correlation Length and Snow Water Equivalent from Radar and Passive Microwave Measurements

by Juha Lemmetyinen, Chris Derksen, Helmut Rott, Giovanni Macelloni, Josh King, Martin Schneebeli, Andreas Wiesmann, Leena Leppänen, Anna Kontu and Jouni Pulliainen

Remote Sens. 2018, 10(2), 170; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10020170 - 25 Jan 2018

Cited by 43 | Viewed by 6092

Abstract

Current methods for retrieving SWE (snow water equivalent) from space rely on passive microwave sensors. Observations are limited by poor spatial resolution, ambiguities related to separation of snow microstructural properties from the total snow mass, and signal saturation when snow is deep (~>80 cm). The use of SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) at suitable frequencies has been suggested as a potential observation method to overcome the coarse resolution of passive microwave sensors. Nevertheless, suitable sensors operating from space are, up to now, unavailable. Active microwave retrievals suffer, however, from the same difficulties as the passive case in separating impacts of scattering efficiency from those of snow mass. In this study, we explore the potential of applying active (radar) and passive (radiometer) microwave observations in tandem, by using a dataset of co-incident tower-based active and passive microwave observations and detailed in situ data from a test site in Northern Finland. The dataset spans four winter seasons with daily coverage. In order to quantify the temporal variability of snow microstructure, we derive an effective correlation length for the snowpack (treated as a single layer), which matches the simulated microwave response of a semi-empirical radiative transfer model to observations. This effective parameter is derived from radiometer and radar observations at different frequencies and frequency combinations (10.2, 13.3 and 16.7 GHz for radar; 10.65, 18.7 and 37 GHz for radiometer). Under dry snow conditions, correlations are found between the effective correlation length retrieved from active and passive measurements. Consequently, the derived effective correlation length from passive microwave observations is applied to parameterize the retrieval of SWE using radar, improving retrieval skill compared to a case with no prior knowledge of snow-scattering efficiency. The same concept can be applied to future radar satellite mission concepts focused on retrieving SWE, exploiting existing methods for retrieval of snow microstructural parameters, as employed within the ESA (European Space Agency) GlobSnow SWE product. Using radar alone, a seasonally optimized value of effective correlation length to parameterize retrievals of SWE was sufficient to provide an accuracy of <25 mm (unbiased) Root-Mean Square Error using certain frequency combinations. A temporally dynamic value, derived from e.g., physical snow models, is necessary to further improve retrieval skill, in particular for snow regimes with larger temporal variability in snow microstructure and a more pronounced layered structure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Indices from Active and Passive Sensors for Remote Sensing Applications)

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4597 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ku-, X- and C-Band Microwave Backscatter Indices from Saline Snow Covers on Arctic First-Year Sea Ice

by Vishnu Nandan, Torsten Geldsetzer, Mallik Mahmud, John Yackel and Saroat Ramjan

Remote Sens. 2017, 9(7), 757; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs9070757 - 23 Jul 2017

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 7074

Abstract

In this study, we inter-compared observed Ku-, X- and C-band microwave backscatter from saline 14 cm, 8 cm, and 4 cm snow covers on smooth first-year sea ice. A Ku-, X- and C-band surface-borne polarimetric microwave scatterometer system was used to measure fully-polarimetric backscatter from the three snow covers, near-coincident with corresponding in situ snow thermophysical measurements. The study investigated differences in co-polarized backscatter observations from the scatterometer system for all three frequencies, modeled penetration depths, utilized co-pol ratios, and introduced dual-frequency ratios to discriminate dominant polarization-dependent frequencies from these snow covers. Results demonstrate that the measured co-polarized backscatter magnitude increased with decreasing snow thickness for all three frequencies, owing to stronger gradients in snow salinity within thinner snow covers. The innovative dual-frequency ratios suggest greater sensitivity of Ku-band microwaves to snow grain size as snow thickness increases and X-band microwaves to snow salinity changes as snow thickness decreases. C-band demonstrated minimal sensitivity to changes in snow salinities. Our results demonstrate the influence of salinity associated dielectric loss, throughout all layers of the three snow covers, as the governing factor affecting microwave backscatter and penetration from all three frequencies. Our “plot-scale” observations using co-polarized backscatter, co-pol ratios and dual-frequency ratios suggest the future potential to up-scale our multi-frequency approach to a “satellite-scale” approach, towards effective development of snow geophysical and thermodynamic retrieval algorithms on smooth first-year sea ice. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Indices from Active and Passive Sensors for Remote Sensing Applications)

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Review

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15 pages, 3947 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

Radiometric Microwave Indices for Remote Sensing of Land Surfaces

by Simonetta Paloscia, Paolo Pampaloni and Emanuele Santi

Remote Sens. 2018, 10(12), 1859; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10121859 - 22 Nov 2018

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3207

Abstract

This work presents an overview of the potential of microwave indices obtained from multi-frequency/polarization radiometry in detecting the characteristics of land surfaces, in particular soil covered by vegetation or snow and agricultural bare soils. Experimental results obtained with ground-based radiometers on different types of natural surfaces by the Microwave Remote Sensing Group of IFAC-CNR starting from ‘80s, are summarized and interpreted by means of theoretical models. It has been pointed out that, with respect to single frequency/polarization observations, microwave indices revealed a higher sensitivity to some significant parameters, which characterize the hydrological cycle, namely: soil moisture, vegetation biomass and snow depth or snow water equivalent. Electromagnetic models have then been used for simulating brightness temperature and microwave indices from land surfaces. As per vegetation covered soils, the well-known tau-omega (τ-ω) model based on the radiative transfer theory has been used, whereas terrestrial snow cover has been simulated using a multi-layer dense-medium radiative transfer model (DMRT). On the basis of these results, operational inversion algorithms for the retrieval of those hydrological quantities have been successfully implemented using multi-channel data from the microwave radiometric sensors operating from satellite. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Indices from Active and Passive Sensors for Remote Sensing Applications)

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