We first present a review of the so-called triangle/trapezoid method for soil moisture evaluation from optical remote sensing data obtained in the red, near infrared and thermal infrared bands. Recent improvements based on additional vegetation indexes obtained for example from multiwavelength signals in SWIR band will also be presented. In a second part we describe the results we obtained for this purpose by using a microbolometer camera onboard of a motorglider. Signal processing for atmosphere correction and orthorectification was specifically developed for this application. First results on the path for identification of soil water content with this approach will be presented.

No abstract