Long-term SMOS soil moisture products: A comprehensive evaluation across scales and methods in the Duero Basin (Spain)

Publication date: Available online 4 June 2015 Source:Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C Author(s): Ángel González-Zamora , Nilda Sánchez , José Martínez-Fernández , Ángela Gumuzzio , María Piles , Estrella Olmedo The European Space Agency’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) Level 2 soil moisture and the new L3 product from the Barcelona Expert Center (BEC) were validated from January 2010 to June 2014 using two in situ networks in Spain. The first network is the Soil Moisture Measurement Stations Network of the University of Salamanca (REMEDHUS), which has been extensively used for validating remotely sensed observations of soil moisture. REMEDHUS can be considered a small-scale network that covers a 1300km2 region. The second network is a large-scale network that covers the main part of the Duero Basin (65,000km2). At an existing meteorological network in the Castilla y Leon region (Inforiego), soil moisture probes were installed in 2012 to provide data until 2014. Comparisons of the temporal series using different strategies (total average, land use, and soil type) as well as using the collocated data at each location were performed. Additionally, spatial correlations on each date were computed for specific days. Finally, an improved version of the Triple Collocation (TC) method, i.e., the Extended Triple Collocation (ETC), was used to compare satellite and in situ soil moisture estimates with outputs of the Soil Water Balance Model G...
Source: Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts ABC - Category: Science Source Type: research