Preliminary analysis of distributed in situ soil moisture measurements

摘要

Surface soil moisture content is highly variable in both space and time.Remote sensing can provide an effective methodology for mapping surfacemoisture content over large areas but ground based measurements are requiredto test its reliability and to calibrate retrieval algorithms. Recently, wehad the opportunity to design and perform an experiment aimed at jointlyacquiring measurements of surface soil water content at various locationsand remotely sensed hyperspectral data. The area selected for the experimentis located in central Umbria and it extends for 90km2. For the area,detailed lithological and multi-temporal landslide inventory maps wereavailable. We identified eight plots where measurements of soil watercontent were made using a Time Domain Reflectometer (TDR). The plots rangein size from 100m2 to 600m2, and cover a variety of topographicand morphological settings. The TDR measurements were conducted during fourdays, on 5 April, 15 April, 2 May and 3 May 2004. On 3 May the NERCairborne CASI 2 acquired the hyperspectral data. Preliminary analysisconcerning the matching between the landslides and the soil moisture werereported. Statistical and geostatistical analysis investigating thespatial-temporal soil moisture distribution were performed. These resultswill be compared with the data of surface temperature obtained from theremotely sensed hyperspectral sensor.