Soil moisture retrieval from co-polarized ALOS PALSAR backscattering in the Zwalm and Alzette catchments

It is well known that Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensors have a large potential for observing soil moisture. However, the sensitivity of L-band sensors to real world soil moisture data has not been discussed to a large extent. Therefore, different agricultural fields in the Zwalm catchment (Belgium) and the Alzette basin (Luxembourg) have been selected to investigate the potential of PALSAR HH-polarized imagery for monitoring soil moisture. Both sites have been extensively sampled with respect to soil moisture, soil roughness, and vegetation parameters during several field campaigns. Soil moisture is retrieved using a possibilistic inversion scheme, through which the accuracy of soil moisture retrieval with respect to uncertainty in soil roughness characterization is assessed.