Coupling SMAP Brightness Temperature Into SWAT Hydrological Model for 30-m Resolution Soil Moisture Retrievals

Luyao Zhu; Junyu Qi; Hongquan Wang; Mengmeng Zhou; Yang Ye; Yongjun Li; Cheng Tong; Xiaodong Deng; Shan He; Ke Wang

doi:10.1109/JSTARS.2023.3310197

IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing (Jan 2023)

Coupling SMAP Brightness Temperature Into SWAT Hydrological Model for 30-m Resolution Soil Moisture Retrievals

Luyao Zhu,
Junyu Qi,
Hongquan Wang,
Mengmeng Zhou,
Yang Ye,
Yongjun Li,
Cheng Tong,
Xiaodong Deng,
Shan He,
Ke Wang

Affiliations

Luyao Zhu: ORCiD; College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Junyu Qi: ORCiD; Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
Hongquan Wang: ORCiD; College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Mengmeng Zhou: College of Business, Changzhou University, Changzhou, China
Yang Ye: ORCiD; College of Spatial Planning and Design, Zhejiang University City College, Hangzhou, China
Yongjun Li: College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Cheng Tong: ORCiD; College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Xiaodong Deng: ORCiD; College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Shan He: College of Economics and Management, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou, China
Ke Wang: College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2023.3310197
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 16
pp. 8319 – 8333

Abstract

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Integrating satellite observations into hydrologic models has the potential to enhance soil moisture (SM) retrievals at high spatial and temporal resolutions. The hydrological model Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) can produce spatiotemporally continuous SM product with high resolution. This article proposed to physically couple the SWAT and Tau-omega radiative transfer model to retrieve SM with a spatial resolution of 30 m. First, the SWAT model integrated a physically based SM module used to simulate hourly SM, from which the brightness temperature (TB) at 30 m was obtained by forwardly simulating the Tau-omega model. Then, the simulated TB at fine resolution and Soil Moisture Active and Passive (SMAP) TB at coarse resolution were merged by Kalman filter into a disaggregated TB. Finally, SM at 30 m resolution was retrieved from the disaggregated TB. The proposed methods were evaluated over the Lanjiang River Basin. The results show that the retrieved SM is highly correlated with two official SMAP SM products and that it has a better accuracy than five SMAP SM products. Particularly, due to the high resolution, the retrieved product captured the heterogeneity of SM within and among fields, compared to the individual use of the hydrological model or satellite observation. Our proposed approach can aid the decision-making in agricultural management at the field scale.

Published in IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing

ISSN: 1939-1404 (Print); 2151-1535 (Online)
Publisher: IEEE
Country of publisher: United States
LCC subjects: Technology: Ocean engineering; Science: Physics: Geophysics. Cosmic physics
Website: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/RecentIssue.jsp?punumber=4609443

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