被动微波遥感反演土壤水分进展研究

在地球系统中, 地表土壤水分是陆地和大气能量交换过程中的重要因子, 并对陆地表面蒸散、水的运移、碳循环有很强的控制作用, 大面积监测土壤水分在水文、气象和农业科学领域具有较大的应用潜力。被动微波遥感是监测土壤含水量最有效的手段之一, 相比红外与可见光, 它具有波长长, 穿透能力强的优势, 相比主动微波雷达, 被动微波辐射计具有监测面积大、周期短, 受粗糙度影响小, 对土壤水分更为敏感, 算法更为成熟的优势。然而微波辐射计观测到的亮温除了受土壤水分影响外, 还要考虑如植被覆盖、土壤温度、雪覆盖以及地形、地表粗糙度、土壤纹理和大气效应以及地表的异质性等其它因子的影响。目前, 已研究出许多使用被动微波辐射计反演土壤水分的方法,这些方法大部分是围绕着土壤湿度与亮温温度之间的关系进行, 同时也考虑其它各种不同因子对地表微波辐射的影响。从介绍被动微波反演地表参数的原理入手, 重点介绍被动遥感反演土壤水分当前的算法进展、研究趋势等。

Overview of Soil Moisture Retrieval from Passive Microwave Remote Sensing

The surface soil moisture is a quantity resulting from the water and energy exchanges at the land-surface/atmosphere interface. Measuring this variable has potential application in hydrology and meteorology. Passive microwave remote sensing techniques have great potential for providing estimates of soil moisture with good temporal repetition on a daily basis and on a regional scale (~10 km).Compared with optical and thermal-infrared sensors, although passive microwave measurements are of lower spatial resolution than optical and infrared measurements, they are less influenced by solar illumination, aerosols, and clouds, and they are responsive to different dynamic ranges of vegetation structure and biomass. Compared with active microwave sensors, the passive microwave systems include frequent coverage, low data rates, simpler data processing. However, the effects of vegetation cover, soil temperature, snow cover, topography, and soil surface roughness also play a significant role in the microwave emission from the surface. Different soil moisture retrieval approaches have been developed to account for the various parameters contributing to the surface microwave emission. In this paper, approaches for monitoring soil moisture using passive microwave remote sensing were discussed and compared, especially the retrieval approaches which will have to be used in the future operational application.