The interactive multisensor snow and ice mapping system (IMS) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration combines multiple data sources to map northern hemisphere snow cover. IMS can identify snow cover beneath clouds using time series images from geostationary satellites and passive-microwave observations. During the snow disaster of 2008 in southern China, IMS snow-cover data were more accurate than those retrieved from passive-microwave remote sensing data and moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer snow-cover products as compared with in situ measurements. The IMS snow-cover mapping accuracy was assessed against ground truth, which was derived using Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) images. The actual snow cover was assessed from 47 ETM+ scenes that were obtained under mostly clear-sky conditions (cloud cover of <20%) from 2008 to 2011 and were subsequently used to evaluate the IMS snow-cover product. Land cover and terrain effects on the accuracy of snow-cover products were considered in this study. The IMS snow-cover product was consistent with the ETM+ snow images over flat surfaces, e.g., cropland, and the average agreement was greater than 85%. For forested, mountainous areas, a pronounced inconsistency was observed between the two datasets. The agreement of the IMS snow-cover product in these regions was <75%, and the IMS appeared to overestimate snow by over 50%. The sparser snow in 2009, 2010, and 2011 caused poorer accuracies and more severe overestimations. In addition, mixed pixels, particularly in complex terrain, have been recognized as a major problem that affects the accuracy of IMS snow detection because of the product’s coarse spatial resolution (i.e., 4 km). Specifically, fragmented snow cover is difficult to discern with 4-km pixels. Therefore, further studies are required to develop a fractional snow-cover algorithm for the IMS product.
Snow cover is an important parameter in the hydrological applications and global climate change research. Accurate
snow cover information in daily basis is significant in weather forecasting, hydrological model and other applications.
High temporal resolution of geostationary data can provide snow cover maps with less cloud obscuration. In this paper,
Fengyun-2 geostationary satellites (FY-2D and FY-2E) and Multi-functional Transport Satellite-2 (MTSAT-2) data were
compared and used in snow cover mapping over China. FY-2D, FY-2E and MTSAT-2 data calibrated by GSICS was
compared firstly. Then we used the same snow cover algorithm to test the performance of the three geostationary
satellites on January and February, 2013 over China. Meteorological station observations were utilized to validate the
snow cover maps of FY-2D, FY-2E and MTSAT-2. Results indicated that FY-2D and FY-2E presented similar and good
performance over China, with overall accuracy about 92%. On the other hand, the overall accuracy of MTSAT-2 was
approximately 88%, which was lower than FY-2D and FY-2E. Further calibration of the MTSAT-2 data with FY-2D/E
should be considered in future study.
Soil moisture is an important parameter in hydrological circulation. For the microwave signal at L-band is very sensitive
to the soil moisture, there have been many algorithms to retrieve soil moisture at L-band. The Soil Moisture and Ocean
Salinity (SMOS) mission is launched in 2009, and the surface soil moisture retrieving is based on the inversion of the Lband
Microwave Emission of the Biosphere (L-MEB) radiative transfer model. Due to the heterogeneity of the surface,
the capability of the model remains to be verified in some region. In the study, the brightness temperature at L-band in
Heihe River Basin is simulated by using the τ-ω model firstly. Secondly, the sensitivity analysis of the model on the
parameters is conducted to get the optimal results. At last, the simulated brightness temperature is calculated by using the
adjusted parameters, and the PLMR microwave brightness temperature is used to validate the simulation results. It turns
out that the root-mean-square errors between L-MEB simulated and PLMR are 9K to 12K for V-polarization, and 6K to
8K at H-polarization respectively at different angles, which proves the L-MEB model have an good capability in the of
China.
Soil moisture is one of the main factors in the water, energy and carbon cycles. It constitutes a major uncertainty in
climate and hydrological models. By now, passive microwave remote sensing and thermal infrared remote sensing
technology have been used to obtain and monitor soil moisture. However, as the resolution of passive microwave remote
sensing is very low and the thermal infrared remote sensing method fails to provide soil temperature on cloudy days, it is
hard to monitor the soil moisture accurately. To solve the problem, a new method has been tried in this research. Thermal
infrared remote sensing and passive microwave remote sensing technology have been combined based on the delicate
experiment. Since the soil moisture retrieved by passive microwave in general represents surface centimeters deep, which
is different from deeper soil moisture estimated by thermal inertia method, a relationship between the two depths soil
moisture has been established based on the experiment. The results show that there is a good relationship between the soil
moisture estimated by passive microwave and thermal infrared remote sensing method. The correlation coefficient is 0.78
and RMSE (root mean square error) is 0.0195 · . This research provides a new possible method to inverse soil
moisture.
In this study, a bare surface soil moisture retrieval algorithm independent of the soil temperature is developed for use with advanced microwave scanning radiometer-Earth observing system measurements. The quasiemissivity is parameterized as the ratio of the brightness temperature in the other channels to that in the 36.5 GHz vertical (V-) polarization in order to correct the soil temperature effects in the estimation of soil moisture. To analyze the surface roughness effect on quasiemissivity, a simulation database covering a large range of soil properties is generated. The advanced integral equation model (AIEM) is used to simulate the soil emissivities at different frequencies. The parameters describing the soil roughness effect on quasiemissivity at two polarizations are found to be expressed by a linear function. Using this relationship and the quasiemissivity at two polarizations, the surface roughness effect is minimized in the estimation of the soil moisture. Thus, soil moisture can be estimated using the brightness temperatures at a given frequency in the V- and horizontal (H-) polarizations and at 36.5 GHz of V-polarization. Compared with the data simulated using AIEM, the algorithm has a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of approximately 0.009 cm3/cm3 for the volumetric soil moisture. For validation, a controlled field experiment is conducted using a truck-mounted multifrequency microwave radiometer. Moreover, the experimental data acquired from the Institute National de Recherches Agronomiques (INRA) field experiment are also used to evaluate the accuracy of the algorithm. The RMSE is approximately 0.04 cm3/cm3 for these two experimental data. In order to analyze the performance or capability of this algorithm using satellite data, the soil moisture derived from WindSat data using this algorithm is compared to the Murrumbidgee soil moisture monitoring network dataset. These results indicate that the newly developed inversion technique has an acceptable accuracy and is expected to be useful for application for bare surface soil moisture estimation.
Global brightness temperature simulations were performed at 0.25 degree resolution both including the atmospheric
effect and pixel heterogeneity in wide wave band. For surfaces such as snow, deserts, and vegetation, volumetric
scattering was calculated using a two-stream radiative transfer approximation. The reflection and transmission at the
surface-air interface and lower boundary were derived by modifying the Frenel equations and QP model to account for
cross-polarization. Several models were utilized to compute the optical parameters for the medium. Global Land Data
Assimilation Systems (GLDAS) provided time series of the main input variables. These simulations were compared with
Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) measurements in January, April, July,
and September 2003, including both the spectral and temporal variations. A sensitivity study was also carried out to
access the relative contributes of the main parameters (particularly the roughness and soil moisture). Difference between
simulated and measured TBs were analyzed, discriminating possible issues either linked to the radiative transfer model
or due to land surface parameters .
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