Abstract
A method is presented to obtain dynamic estimates of basin wetness (BWI) and fractional water surface (FWS) indices at the scale of the Mackenzie River Basin using SSM/I remotely sensed brightness temperature measurements. The approach accounts for the seasonal evolution of the vegetation state and the basin surface heterogeneity. Results demonstrate that the approach can filter out the vegetation effect and produce reasonable estimates of FWS at the basin scale. However, the low resolution of SSM/I and other passive microwave sensors precludes the use of this approach for monitoring soil wetness at a smaller scale. Also, the FWS cannot distinguish moisture effects from open water bodies from that of soil surface. A methodology based on the combined use of passive microwave and visible data, along with topographic information, has been developed to separate the open water from the soil surface component in estimating the BWI, and to downscale the index at the digital elevation models scale using a topographic index (TI) which is continuously adjusted to account for vegetation growth. When applied to the Peace-Athabasca-Delta area, this method improved the correlation between soil wetness and precipitation measured at a meteorological station, compared to an approach based on a time invariant TI.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Basist A, Grody NC, Peterson TC, Williams CN (1998) Using the special sensor microwave/imager to monitor land surface temperatures, wetness, and snow cover. J Appl Meteorol 37:888–911
Basist A, Williams C, Grody N, Ross TF, Shen S, Chang ATC, Ferraro R, Menne MJ (2001) Using the special sensor microwave imager to monitor surface wetness. J Hydrometeorol 2:297–308
Beven KJ, Kirkby MJ (1979) A physically based, variable contributing area model of basin hydrology. Hydrol Sci B 24:43–69
Chaplot V, Walter C (2003) Subsurface topography to enhance the prediction of the spatial distribution of soil wetness. Hydrol Process 17:2567–2580
Cé J, Gravel S, Méthot A, Patoine A, Roch M, Staniforth A (1998). The operational CMC-MRB global environmental multiscale (GEM) model. Part I: design considerations and formulation. Mon Weather Rev 126:1397–1418
Crave A, Gascuel-Odoux C (1997) Influence of topography on time and space distribution of soil surface water content. Hydrol Process 11:203–210
Choudhury BJ (1991). Passive microwave remote sensing contribution to hydrological variables. Surv Geophys 12:63–84
Eagleson PS (1982) Ecological optimality in water-limited natural soil-vegetation systems 1. Theory and hypothesis. Water Resour Res 18:325–340
Fily M, Royer A, Goita K, Prigent C (2003) A simple retrieval method for land surface temperature and fraction of water surface determination from satellite microwave brightness temperatures in sub-arctic areas. Remote Sens Environ 85:328–338
Frazier P, Page K, Louis J, Briggs S, Robertson AI (2003) Relating wetland inundation to river flow using Landsat TM data. Int J Remote Sens 24:3755–3770
Gomez-Plaza A, Alvarez-Rogel J, Albaladejo J, Castillo VM (2000) Spatial patterns and temporal stability of soil moisture across a range of scales in a semiarid environment. Hydrol Process 14:1261–1277
Gomez-Plaza A, Martinez-Mena M, Albaladejo J, Castillo VM (2001) Factors regulating spatial distribution of soil water content in small semi-arid catchments. J Hydrol 253:211–226
Grayson RB, Western AW, Chiew FHS (1997) Preferred states in spatial soil moisture patterns: local and non-local controls. Water Resour Manag 33:2897–2908
Jackson TJ (1993) Measuring surface soil moisture using passive microwave remote sensing. Hydrological Processes 7: 139–152.
Kochtubajda B, Stewart RE, Gyakum JR, Flannigan MD (2002) Summer convection and lightning over the Mackenzie River Basin and their impacts during 1994 and 1995. Atmos Ocean 40:199–220
Lakshmi V (1996) Use of special sensor microwave imager data for soil moisture estimation. Ph.D. Dissertation, Princeton University
Leconte R, Pietroniro A, Peters DL, Prowse TD (2001) Effects of flow regulation on hydrologic patterns of a large inland delta. Regul River 17:51–65
Mosley MP (1983) Response of braided rivers to changing discharge. J Hydrol 22:18–67
Njoku EG, Jackson TJ, Lakshmi V, Chan TK, Nghiem SV (2003) Soil moisture retrieval from AMSR-E. IEEE T Geosci Remote Sens 41:215–229
Peters DL, Prowse TD, Pietroniro A, Leconte R (2006) Flood hydrology of the Peace-Athabasca Delta, northern Canada. Hydrol Process 20:4073–4096
Prigent C (1997) Microwave land surface emissivities estimated from SSM/I observations. J Geophys Res 102(D18):21,867–21,890
Proctor BA, Strong GS, Smith CD, Wang M, Soulis ED (2000) Atmospheric moisture budgets for the Mackenzie GEWEX project water years 1994–1995 through 1998–1999. 6 th Scientific Workshop for MAGS: Nov. 15–17, 2000, pp 164–177
Qiu Y, Fu BJ, Wang J, Chen LD (2001) Soil moisture variation in relation to topography and land use in a hill slope catchment of the Loess Plateau, China. J Hydrol 240:243–263
Ragab R (1995) Towards a continuous operational system to estimate the rootzone soil moisture from intermittent remotely sensed surface moisture. J Hydrol 173:1–25
Romano N, Palladino M (2002) Prediction of soil water retention using soil physical data and terrain attributes. J Hydrol 265:56–75
Smith LC, Isacks BL, Bloom AL (1996) Estimation of discharge from three braided rivers using synthetic aperture radar satellite imagery: potential application to ungauged basins. Water Resour Res 32:2021–2034
Soulis ED, Seglenieks FR (2007) The MAGS integrated modeling system. (Vol. II, this book)
Szeto KK, Stewart RE, Yau MK, Gyakum J (2007) The Mackenzie climate system: a synthesis of MAGS atmospheric research. (Vol. I, this book)
Tanaka M, Adjadeh TA, Tanaka S, Sugimura T (2002) Water surface area measurement of Lake Volta using SSM/I 37-GHz polarization difference in rainy season. Adv Space Res 30:2501–2504
Tanaka M, Sugimura T, Tanaka S (2000) Monitoring water surface ratio in the Chinese floods of summer 1998 by DMSP-SSM/I. Int J Remote Sens 21:1561–1569
Temimi M, Leconte R, Brissette FP, Toussaint T (2003) A dynamic estimate of a soil wetness index for the Mackenzie River Basin from SSM/I measurements, IGARSS 2003, July 21–25, 2003, Toulouse, France, vol 2, pp 920–922
Temimi M, Leconte R, Brissette F, Chaouch N, Magagi R (2004) Near real time flood monitoring over the Mackenzie River Basin using passive microwave data. IGARSS 2004, Sept. 20–24, 2004, Anchorage, Alaska, USA, vol 3, pp 1862–1865
Temimi M, Leconte R, Brissette F, Chaouch N, Magagi R (2005) Flood and soil wetness monitoring over the Mackenzie River Basin using AMSR-E 37-Ghz brightness temperature. IGARSS 2005, July 25–29, 2005, Seoul, Korea, vol 1, pp 59–62
Toyra J, Pietroniro A, Martz L, Prowse TD (2002) A multi-sensor approach to wetland flood monitoring. Hydrol Process 16:1569–1581
VÖrÖsmarty CJ, Willmott CJ, Choudhury BJ, Schloss AL, Steams TK, Robeson SM, Dorman TJ (1996) Analyzing the discharge regime of a large tropical river through remote sensing, ground-based climatic data, and modeling. Water Resour Res 32:3137–3150
Western AW, Grayson RB, Bloschl G (2002) Scaling of soil moisture: a hydrologic perspective. Ann Rev Earth Pl Sci 30:149–180
Western AW, Grayson RB, Bloschl G, Willgoose GR, McMahon TA (1999) Observed spatial organization of soil moisture and its relation to terrain indices. Water Resour Res 35:797–810
Wigneron JP, Calvet JC, Pellarin T, Van de Griend AA, Berger M, Ferrazzoli P (2003) Retrieving near-surface soil moisture from microwave radiometric observations: current status and future plans. Remote Sens Environ 85:489–506
Wilson DJ, Western AW, Grayson RB (2005) A terrain and data-based method for generating the spatial distribution of soil moisture. Adv Water Resour 28:43–54
Woo MK, Rouse WR, Stewart RE, Stone J (2007). The Mackenzie GEWEX Study: a contribution to cold region atmospheric and hydrologic sciences. (Vol. I, this book)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Leconte, R., Temimi, M., Chaouch, N., Brissette, F., Toussaint, T. (2008). On the Use of Satellite Passive Microwave Data for Estimating Surface Soil Wetness in the Mackenzie River Basin. In: Woo, Mk. (eds) Cold Region Atmospheric and Hydrologic Studies. The Mackenzie GEWEX Experience. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-75136-6_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-75136-6_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-74927-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-75136-6
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)