Estimation of Hydraulic properties of a sandy soil using ground-based active and passive microwave remote sensing

Bayesian uncertainty; Antennas; Geological surveys; Groundwater; Inverse problems; Radiative transfer; Radiometers; Remote sensing; Soils; Time domain analysis; Uncertainty analysis; Bayesian; Ground penetrating radar (GPR); Inverse modeling; Microwave radiometry; Soil hydraulic properties; Ground penetrating radar systems; Green function

Abstract :

[en] In this paper, we experimentally analyzed the feasibility of estimating soil hydraulic properties from 1.4 GHz radiometer and 0.8-2.6 GHz ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data. Radiometer and GPR measurements were performed above a sand box, which was subjected to a series of vertical water content profiles in hydrostatic equilibrium with a water table located at different depths. A coherent radiative transfer model was used to simulate brightness temperatures measured with the radiometer. GPR data were modeled using full-wave layered medium Green's functions and an intrinsic antenna representation. These forward models were inverted to optimally match the corresponding passive and active microwave data. This allowed us to reconstruct the water content profiles, and thereby estimate the sand water retention curve described using the van Genuchten model. Uncertainty of the estimated hydraulic parameters was quantified using the Bayesian-based DREAM algorithm. For both radiometer and GPR methods, the results were in close agreement with in situ time-domain reflectometry (TDR) estimates. Compared with radiometer and TDR, much smaller confidence intervals were obtained for GPR, which was attributed to its relatively large bandwidth of operation, including frequencies smaller than 1.4 GHz. These results offer valuable insights into future potential and emerging challenges in the development of joint analyses of passive and active remote sensing data to retrieve effective soil hydraulic properties. © 2015 IEEE.

Disciplines :

Earth sciences & physical geography
Environmental sciences & ecology

Author, co-author :

Jonard, François ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de géographie > Systèmes d'information géographiques

Weihermüller, L.; Agrosphere (IBG-3), Institute of Bio- and Geosciences, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, 52425, Germany

Schwank, M.; Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, 8903, Switzerland, GAMMA Remote Sensing AG, Gümligen, 3073, Switzerland

Jadoon, K. Z.; Water Desalination and Reuse Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia

Vereecken, H.; Agrosphere (IBG-3), Institute of Bio- and Geosciences, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, 52425, Germany

Lambot, S.; Earth and Life Institute, Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, 1348, Belgium

Language :

English

Title :

Estimation of Hydraulic properties of a sandy soil using ground-based active and passive microwave remote sensing

Publication date :

2015

Journal title :

IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing

ISSN :

0196-2892

eISSN :

1558-0644

Publisher :

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

3095-3109

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Available on ORBi :

since 21 September 2021

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