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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #373444
Research Project: Integrating Remote Sensing, Measurements and Modeling for Multi-Scale Assessment of Water Availability, Use, and Quality in Agroecosystems

Location: Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory

Title: Validation practices for satellite soil moisture retrievals: What are (the) errors?

Author
item GRUBER, A. - Leuven University
item DE LANNOY, G. - Leuven University
item ALBERGEL, C. - University Of Toulouse
item AL-YARRI, A. - French National Institute For Agricultural Research
item BROCCA, L. - National Research Council - Italy
item CALVET, J.-C. - University Of Toulouse
item COLLIANDER, A. - Jet Propulsion Laboratory
item Cosh, Michael
item Crow, Wade
item DORIGO, W.A. - Vienna University Of Technology
item DRAPER, C. - Goddard Space Flight Center
item HIRSCHI, M. - Eth Zurich
item KERR, Y. - University Of Toulouse
item KONINGS, A. - University Of Stanford
item LAHOZ, W. - Collaborator
item MCCOLL, K. - Harvard University
item MONTZKKA, C. - Juelich Research Center
item MUNOZ-SABATER, J. - European Centre For Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)
item PENG, J. - Oxford University
item REICHLE, R. - Goddard Space Flight Center
item RICHAUME, P. - University Of Toulouse
item RUDIGER, C. - Monash University
item SCANLON, T.M. - University Of Virginia
item VAN DER SCHALIE, R. - Collaborator
item WIGNERON, J. - French National Institute For Agricultural Research

Submitted to: Remote Sensing of Environment
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/2020
Publication Date: 7/1/2020
Citation: Gruber, A., De Lannoy, G., Albergel, C., Al-Yarri, A., Brocca, L., Calvet, J., Colliander, A., Cosh, M.H., Crow, W.T., Dorigo, W., Draper, C., Hirschi, M., Kerr, Y., Konings, A., Lahoz, W., Mccoll, K., Montzkka, C., Munoz-Sabater, J., Peng, J., Reichle, R., Richaume, P., Rudiger, C., Scanlon, T., Van Der Schalie, R., Wigneron, J. 2020. Validation practices for satellite soil moisture retrievals: What are (the) errors? Remote Sensing of Environment. 244:111806. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2020.111806.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2020.111806

Interpretive Summary: Soil moisture is an important climate variable due to its direct impact on the land surface water, energy, and nutrient cycles. Satellite observations that are suitable to derive global estimates of soil moisture are now widely available. However, these new products must be credibly validated against ground-based observations before they can be widely applied with confidence. This paper reviews the current state-of-the-art for soil moisture validation techniques and establishes consensus best-practice approaches, and associated terminology, for these techniques. The concepts developed by the paper will be used by resource and space agencies in multiple countries to further the application of these data products for important agricultural monitoring and water resource applications.

Technical Abstract: This paper presents a community report to develop good practice guidelines for the validation of global coarse-scale satellite soil moisture products. We provide theoretical background, a review of state-of-the-art methodologies for estimating errors in soil moisture data sets, practical recommendations on data pre-processing and presentation of statistical results, and a recommended validation protocol that is supplemented with an example validation exercise focused on microwave-based surface soil moisture products. We conclude by identifying research gaps that should be addressed in the near future.