Influence of soil texture on the estimation of bare soil moisture content using MODIS images

Abstract

Spectral behaviour of soil is strongly influenced by the soil texture as well as its nutrient content. Many attempts have so far been made to assess the soil moisture using soil reflectance in different bands of satellite images. In this paper, the investigations showed that the coarse texture soils did not show a profound relationship with the reflectance values that was in part due to its weak water storage capacity. Fine texture soils, on the contrary, showed better results which could be attributed to their higher water storage capacity and the capillary phenomenon. Finally, a linear regression model made of a combination of Land Surface Temperature (LST), Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) and Visible and Shortwave infrared Drought Index (VSDI) indices was proposed. The suggested method has improved the accuracy of the soil moisture content estimation up to 1% in general and the medium texture soil in particular. The results were compared with the performance of seven conventional soil moisture estimators method all using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. ARTICLE HISTORY

Organic matter estimation of surface soil using successive projection algorithm

“…The VIRS, coupled with multivariate modeling techniques provide know how to predict SOM (Xu et al., 2016), total N (Kuang & Mouazen, 2013), clay content (Nawar et al., 2016), and moisture content of soils (Liu et al., 2020). However, soil spectral signal is strongly influenced by soil texture, moisture, and SOM contents (Bidkhani & Mobasheri, 2018; Blasch et al., 2015). As a result, the established prediction model shows low accuracy and cannot be well applied to the prediction of soil properties.…”

Estimation of Bare Soil Moisture from Remote Sensing Indices in the 0.4–2.5 mm Spectral Range

“…Soil moisture content (SMC) is an important attribute influencing the availability of water to plants and a key variable in the water and thermal energy exchange cycle between the Earth's surface and atmosphere through evaporation [1], [2]. As constant measurement and monitoring of this parameter plays an important role in various studies -such as estimating and predicting evapotranspiration of plants, analyzing atmospheric parameters, predicting floods or droughts, and weather and climate modeling -it is important to monitor bare soils at various spatial scales [1], [3]. Manual SMC measurement methods are based on field studies, often on a local scale, requiring a lot of manpower and resources, so they are difficult to apply across large areas [1], [4].…”

“…Manual SMC measurement methods are based on field studies, often on a local scale, requiring a lot of manpower and resources, so they are difficult to apply across large areas [1], [4]. Remote sensing (RS), on the other hand, is considered to be an effective tool for monitoring soil parameters over large areas and is believed to be more cost effective than in situ measurements [3], [5]. Various studies have been carried out in recent years, based on RS methods to estimate bare SMC with better temporal and spatial coverage [1], [6].…”

“…In practice, soil reflectance depends on many factors such as soil type, organic matter, texture, porosity, vegetation cover, mineral composition and color of soil elements [1], [3]. Therefore, a normalized form of transforming two or more spectral reflections, such as SMC indexes, may be easier and more suitable for high resolution remote sensing SMC mapping.…”

“…Later studies indicated that the relative estimation of SMC in the shortwave infrared (SWIR) domain (1.4-2.5 μm) was more efficient [1], [2]. According to the literature data, for the estimation of SMC, the best results were obtained with the following spectral indexes: soil water index WISOIL [17], NSMI [18], NINSOL [2], NINSON [2], NSDI 1, 2, 3 [1], NMDI (Normalized Multi-band Drought Index [3], NDWI Normalized Difference Water Index [3], VSDI (Visible and Shortwave Infrared Drought Index) [19]. These indices consist mainly of shortwave infrared bands and show higher saturation in the SMC assessment.…”