Examining the #Spatial and Temporal Variability of #Soil Moisture in Kentucky Using #Remote Sensing Data by Bassil El Masri in BJSTR
Abstract
Soil moisture is a key variable of the climate system and plays an
important role in local, regional and global climates. It constrains
vegetation photosynthesis, respiration and transpiration in many regions
of the world. However, large-scale and long-term observation of soil
moisture is sparse. The main objective of the paper is to investigate
the spatial and temporal variability in remote sensing soil moisture for
the State of Kentucky. The observed trends in satellite soil moisture
estimates for different Kentucky biome types are analyzed. To accomplish
this task soil moisture data from Advanced Microwave and Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) for years 2002-2011 are used. Daily AMSR-E data
are averaged to produce monthly estimates. Moderate Resolution Imagining
Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Land cover data are used to subset
the AMSR-E data for the major Kentucky biomes: Forest and cropland.
Results show that the spatial variability of soil moisture is related to
vegetation type. AMSR-E soil moisture data shows an apparent decreasing
trend in KY soil moisture during the vegetation growing season. This
trend is consistent with observed decrease in the precipitation duration
during the growing season in KY, particularly from July to September.
In conclusion, AMSR-E soil moisture data are capable of detecting the
spatial and temporal variability in soil moisture for KY biomes.
Evaluating
satellite soil moisture products is important for improving our
understanding of the spatial variability in vegetation carbon and water
cycles.
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