Study on CSCAT soil moisture retrieval in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
The China-France Oceanography SATellite(CFOSAT)carries the first international fan-beam rotary scanning microwave CFOSAT SCATterometer(CSCAT),whose rich observation geometry information provides new opportunities for remote sensing monitoring of soil moisture on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.This study proposes an effective method for detecting the changes in soil moisture applicable to the CSCAT,without the need for modeling complex mechanism and constructing look-up table.The soil moisture retrieval algorithm can be constructed by utilizing the changes in the backscattering coefficient difference and the vegetation empirical function.Through comparing the retrieval results of the detection algorithm and the ground measured results,it is found that the CFOSAT retrieval results are in good agreement with the measured results,and it shows that this algorithm has high accuracy and can accurately reflect the changes in soil moisture.Meanwhile,the analysis of the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of the soil moisture in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau reveals that the soil is dry in the northern-central part of the plateau and wet in the western and southeastern parts with complex spatial characteristics in localized areas,and the soil moisture is characterized with significant seasonal variations.
China-France Oceanography SATellite(CFOSAT)the Qinghai-Tibet Plateaubackscattering coefficientdetection of changesoil moisture