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2, JUNE 2011
439
AbstractThis paper investigates the potential of multi-temporal C- and L-band SAR data, acquired within a short revisiting
time (12 weeks), to map temporal changes of surface soil moisture
) underneath agricultural crops. The analysed data
content (
consist of a new ground and SAR data set acquired on a weekly
basis from late April to early August 2006 over the DEMMIN
(Durable Environmental Multidisciplinary Monitoring Information Network) agricultural site (Northern Germany) during the
European Space Agency 2006 AgriSAR campaign. The paper
firstly investigates the main scattering mechanisms characterizing
the interaction between the SAR signal and crops, such as winter
wheat and rape. Then, the relationship between backscatter and
soil moisture content temporal changes as a function of different
SAR bands and polarizations is studied. Observations indicate
that rationing of the multi-temporal radar backscatter can be a
simple and effective way to decouple the effect of vegetation and
surface roughness from the effect of soil moisture changes, when
volume scattering is not dominant. The study also assesses to
which extent changes in the incidence angle between subsequent
radar acquisitions may affect the radar sensitivity to soil moisture
content. Finally, an algorithm based on the change detection
technique retrieving superficial soil moisture content is proposed
and assessed both on simulated and experimental data. Results
indicate that for crops relatively insensitive to volume scattering
in the vegetation canopy (as for instance winter wheat at C-band
can be retrieved
or winter rape and winter wheat at L-band),
during the whole growing season, with accuracies ranging between
3 ]. We also show that low incidence angles
5% and 6% [ 3
(e.g., 20 35 ) and HH polarization are generally better suited to
retrieval than VV polarization and higher incidence angles.
Index TermsSentinel-1, SMAP, soil moisture retrieval, synthetic aperture radar (SAR).
I. INTRODUCTION
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IEEE JOURNAL OF SELECTED TOPICS IN APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATIONS AND REMOTE SENSING, VOL. 4, NO. 2, JUNE 2011
Fig. 1. Land cover map of the airborne SAR system East-West track. The studied rape (140-110-101) and wheat (221-230-250) fields are indicated as a function
of the incidence angle.
Fig. 2. Temporal behavior of mean fresh biomass [kg=m ] (a) and volumetric
soil moisture content [%] (b) values over the two wheat and the two rape fields
evaluated per three locations on each Day of Year (DoY). Standard deviations
are also reported. On the right of (b), precipitation rate [mm/day] is illustrated.
BALENZANO et al.: DENSE TEMPORAL SERIES OF C- AND L-BAND SAR DATA FOR SOIL MOISTURE RETRIEVAL OVER AGRICULTURAL CROPS
441
and from end June to early July, during which two considerable
were measured, i.e., 9.2% and 16.2% of
increments of
increment in average on DoYs 136 and 172, respectively.
Concerning the soil surface roughness, winter crops (101-250
fields) had similar soil roughness, approximately 1 cm in average, during the entire campaign [20] (though this figure requires a certain caution because it was estimated over a sampling area of 70 70 cm ).
B. SAR Data
In this study, the SAR data acquired by the Deutsches
Zentrum fr Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) Experimental-SAR
(E-SAR) airborne system at C and L-band have been analyzed.
For each of the 12 flights, C- band data were acquired in a dual
polarization mode [horizontal-horizontal (HH) or vertical-vertical (VV) and cross-polarization (XP)] and L-band data using
the fully polarimetric mode. On the 2nd of August rape field 140
had already been harvested and no complete ground data were
collected on the other fields, therefore the last SAR acquisition
has not been included in this analysis.
The backscattering coefficients of the area corresponding
to the monitored fields have been extracted from the DLR
E-SAR multi-looked and geocoded products with 2 m pixel
size and averaged at field scale to make speckle noise negligible
(the number of pixels per field ranged approximately between
112000 and 280000) with respect to the radiometric accuracy
dB at C and L bands [21].
which is within
III. SENSITIVITY OF SAR DATA TO SOIL MOISTURE CONTENT
In this section the temporal series of the SAR data are analat different
ysed in order to establish the SAR sensitivity to
frequencies, polarizations, incidence angles, and for significant
changes in the vegetation growing stages, i.e., before and after
heading on DoY 158 and development of fruits on DoY 164 for
wheat and rape crops, respectively.
Fig. 3 compares the temporal backscatter profiles of wheat
(triangles) and rape (squares) fields at low incidence angle
30 , at VV (continuous line), HH (dash-dotted line) and
XP (dashed line) polarizations at both C [Fig. 3(a) and (b)]
and L [Fig. 3(c) and (d)] bands. Rape field shows the highest
backscattering values at all frequencies and polarizations. The
radar temporal signature of the two crops is quite different at
C-band, whereas at L-band there is a high correlation, approximately 0.8, in the temporal trends of winter wheat and winter
rape regardless of polarization.
A. Backscatter at C Band of Winter Wheat
Figs. 2(b) and 3(a) show that although
increases of 6.3%
on DoY 136 (before heading) the backscattering coefficient does
not significantly change, i.e., differences of 0.2 dB and of 0.5
dB at VV and HH polarization have been measured, respectively. The relatively small variation of backscatter is due to the
fact that at this early growing stage the wheat crop is characterized by a strong attenuation of backscatter [22]. On DoY 172
(17.8%) and the
(after heading), for the higher increment of
increases of 1.9 dB at VV
reduced vegetation attenuation,
and of 1.7 dB at HH polarization. Moreover, the V polarized
incidence wave is also significantly more attenuated than the
Fig. 3. Comparison between the temporal behavior of backscattering coefficients ( ) of wheat (triangles) and rape (squares) fields at low ( 30 ) incidence angle, at VV (continuous line), HH (dash dotted line) and XP (dashed
line) polarizations, at C (a), (b) and L (c), (d) bands, respectively. Error bar accounting for the calibration is 1 dB.
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IEEE JOURNAL OF SELECTED TOPICS IN APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATIONS AND REMOTE SENSING, VOL. 4, NO. 2, JUNE 2011
the early growing season for rape crop. It reaches 3.5 dB on DoY
172 at the end of the development of fruits and starts decreasing
at ripening.
E. Radiative Transfer Model Simulations
To better understand the nature and strength of the soil and
canopy contributions to rape and wheat backscatter, a theoretical model, based on RT first-order radiative transfer approach,
has been employed. The model represents the crop canopy as
a plane-stratified multi-layer of vegetation elements overlying
a rough half-space. Dielectric cylinders of circular cross section have been used to represent stems, branches and ears (at
C band). Scattering of a finite length cylinder has been computed by using the infinite cylinder approximation [28]. Leaves
have been depicted by circular or elliptical disks and pods and
ears (at L band) by prolate spheroids. The scattering amplitudes
of disks and spheroids have been computed by using the Generalized Rayleigh-Gans (GRG) approximation [28], and the small
spheroid approximation by the T-matrix approach [29], respectively. The direct backscatter from the soil surface is calculated
by the Integral Equation Model (IEM) [30]. The dielectric constants of each vegetation component and soil surface are evaluated using [31] and [32], respectively. The model has been validated [33] using the detailed ground data set collected over the
Matera site in 2003 [22]. The total scattering (tot) consists of
the soil surface response attenuated by the canopy (ground), the
direct scattering from the vegetation elements (veg) and double
bounce (db) between ground and crop canopy. In-depth comparisons between model simulations and SAR measurements
are beyond the limit of this paper, as no detailed geometrical
measurements were available. The missing information concerning the length, width and thickness of geometrical canopy
parameters and the distribution of fresh biomass among canopy
components (e.g., leaves, stems, etc) has been inferred from
more detailed ground data collected during previous campaigns
[22], [34].
Fig. 4 shows the contributions to the simulated backscattering coefficients of winter wheat and rape at C (a), (b) and L
(c), (d) bands and HH polarization, respectively. The E-SAR
data are included for comparison. At C band, the simulated
total backscatters reproduce the experimental data with an accuracy of 1.1 dB. Model simulations confirm that the dominant
backscatter contribution is the direct soil response attenuated
by vegetation canopy for winter wheat and the direct vegetation
response for winter rape. At L band, although simulated total
backscatters reproduce the changes of the experimental data, a
high root mean square error (rmse) has been found, i.e., 2.5 dB
for wheat [Fig. 4(c)] and 2.2 dB for rape [Fig. 4(d)]. The main
differences between measured and simulated values are in the
period from mid May to end of June, for both winter wheat and
winter rape, where a bias of approximately 4 dB is observed.
Such a systematic increment can be also observed for the
measured backscatter at VV polarization although at least 1 dB
lower with respect to HH polarization [Fig. 3(c)]. A similar
behavior is also evident over the other wheat and rape fields,
imaged at higher incidence angles over the DEMMIN site, but
it is not so evident at C-band [Fig. 3(a)]. As the discrepancy
regards both winter wheat and winter rape, its causes are more
BALENZANO et al.: DENSE TEMPORAL SERIES OF C- AND L-BAND SAR DATA FOR SOIL MOISTURE RETRIEVAL OVER AGRICULTURAL CROPS
443
131 = stars
186 = triangles
Fig. 4. Simulated scattering mechanisms at C (a), (b) and L (c), (d) bands and
HH polarization for wheat and rape fields, respectively: Total (i.e., tot, continuous line), ground (dashed line), vegetation (i.e., veg., dotted line), double
bounce (i.e., db, dot dashed line) scattering. Measured data (continuous line
triangles) are reported for comparison.
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IEEE JOURNAL OF SELECTED TOPICS IN APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATIONS AND REMOTE SENSING, VOL. 4, NO. 2, JUNE 2011
TABLE I
CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS (R) BETWEEN THE CO-POLARIZED CHANGES
[dB] AND SOIL MOISTURE
ON TWO CONSECUTIVE DATES
(
) AND FRESH BIOMASS (
) RATIOS MEASURED OVER WHEAT AND RAPE
FIELDS, AT C AND L BANDS AND AT APPROXIMATELY 30 . THE SIGNIFICANCE
( ) OF THE CORRELATION (R) IS ALSO REPORTED (THE SIZE SAMPLE IS 10)
fb
CHANGES
On the basis of the interpretation of the main scattering mechanisms characterizing wheat and rape crops, the ratio of SAR
backscatters on two consecutive dates both at HH and VV polarizations is expected to mainly depend on soil and not on vegetation changes for wheat at C and L-bands and for rape at L-band
but not at C band. Indeed, this is what we observe in Table I that
reports the correlation coefficients (R) between the temporal seratios on two consecutive dates, indiries of co-polarized
cated by superscripts (1) and (2), i.e.,
, or difference of
when expressed in decibels, i.e.,
, and
the correspondent temporal series of
and ratios measured
on wheat and rape crops imaged at approximately 30 incidence
changes are significantly correlated during the
angle. and
entire growing season (0.70 at VV and 0.77 at HH) for winter
and
wheat, whereas there is almost no correlation between
changes. For winter rape, no significant correlation between
changes and both
and changes is observed. At L band,
the highest correlation between changes and
changes can
be observed at HH polarization both for wheat (0.70) and rape
(0.64) crops.
BALENZANO et al.: DENSE TEMPORAL SERIES OF C- AND L-BAND SAR DATA FOR SOIL MOISTURE RETRIEVAL OVER AGRICULTURAL CROPS
445
TABLE II
RMSE AND CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS (R) BETWEEN MEASURED AND RT
MODEL AND ALPHA APPROXIMATION CO-POLARIZED CHANGES ON TWO
CONSECUTIVE DATES
[dB] , AT C BAND, AT APPROXIMATELY
30 AND AT BOTH VV AND HH POLARIZATIONS FOR WHEAT CROP
Under the simplifying assumption that the backscatter response is just due to ground response attenuated by vegetation
ratio
canopy and that roughness surface is unchanged, the
between two consecutive acquisitions
, can be expressed as a function of the dielectric constant , the incidence
angle and the polarization
or VV [36], i.e.,
(1)
where
backscatters on two consecutive dates at L band and HH polarization, measured by E-SAR (continuous line) and simulated
by the RT (dashed line) and by the alpha approximation (dotted
line). Table III reports the rmse and correlation coefficients (R)
between SAR and simulated values, at both VV and HH polarizations. Simulated ratios obtained by using (1) show the highest
correlation with observed SAR ratios at HH polarization, for
both wheat (i.e., 0.85) and rape crops (i.e., 0.69). The highest
discrepancies are observed for the third and the eighth ratios
(i.e., DoY 136 over DoY 131 and DoY 186 over DoY 172) for
the wheat field, which includes the dates when variations in soil
ground conditions have been observed.
A first important consideration is that the agreement between
observed and simulated data of Fig. 7 is better than the one
of Fig. 4(c) and (d) where the comparison between observed
and simulated backscattering coefficients is shown. In addition,
Fig. 7 demonstrates that observed ratios between backscatters
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IEEE JOURNAL OF SELECTED TOPICS IN APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATIONS AND REMOTE SENSING, VOL. 4, NO. 2, JUNE 2011
TABLE III
RMSE AND CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS (R) BETWEEN MEASURED AND RT
MODEL AND ALPHA APPROXIMATION CO-POLARIZED CHANGES ON TWO
[dB] , AT L BAND, AT APPROXIMATELY
CONSECUTIVE DATES
30 AND BOTH VV AND HH POLARIZATIONS FOR WHEAT AND RAPE CROPS
V. IMPLICATION FOR
RETRIEVAL
, SAR acquisitions
unknown Fresnel coefficients
(2)
TABLE IV
RMSE AND CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS (R) BETWEEN MEASURED AND
RT MODEL AND ALPHA APPROXIMATION CO-POLARIZED CHANGES
ON TWO CONSECUTIVE DATES AND AT DIFFERENT INCIDENCE ANGLES,
(40 ) (30 ) [dB], AT L BAND AND HH POLARIZATIONS FOR
WHEAT AND RAPE CROPS
with
,
, and
. The number
ranges between
and
,
of equations
depending on whether the ratios between two consecutive
backscatter values only or all possible ratios between two subsequent backscatters are considered, respectively. It is worth
emphasizing that the entire approach is based on the hypothesis
that surface roughness conditions remain constant during the
acquisitions, so that the choice of the
value is strictly
connected to the time-span of the
acquisitions and to the
temporal behavior of the soil surfaces. In this respect, we have
selected
, as it is plausible that at least between
consecutive and close SAR acquisitions surface conditions do
not significantly change. Under these conditions, the resulting
equations in
unknowns is
linear system of
under determined and an infinite number of solutions satisfy
(2). In our case, the solution is found subject to the constraints
that
for
. Indeed, at C
and L bands and at 30 40 incidence angles, varying soil
moisture content from 3% to 40%, the
coefficients, range
approximately between
and
over a
loamy sand soil, which is one of the main soil texture classes
over the DEMMIN site.
Once
coefficient is retrieved for each date, the relative
dielectric constant
can be analytically derived and then the
soil moisture content can be estimated, by using the inverse of
the empirical expression of Hallikainen et al. [32]. The performance of the algorithm has been firstly assessed over data sets
simulated by the RT model, which allows to explore the applicability of the alpha approximation in a very large number
of cases, and then on experimental data. In the simulation, the
SAR measurement error
, where
is the
SAR system radiometric accuracy and
is the SAR system
radiometric resolution, has been accounted for by adding to the
modelled backscattering coefficient a Gaussian noise with zero
mean and a standard deviation equal to 0.7 dB. Such a choice
corresponds to
dB (e.g., Sentinel-1 [12]) and a radiometric resolution of
dB (e.g., assuming fully developed speckle and considering a confidence interval with 95%
probability, it amounts to average over approximately 500 independent samples [39], which roughly corresponds to a linear
resolution of 220 m for the Sentinel-1 system [12] in the interferometric wide swath acquisition mode). The observed temporal
series of backscatter ratios has been simulated by means of the
RT model, i.e.,
, both for wheat and
rape canopies at different and
values (covering the entire
range of values observed over the DEMMIN site). It is worth
noting that IEM model, adopted in the RT approach to simulate
BALENZANO et al.: DENSE TEMPORAL SERIES OF C- AND L-BAND SAR DATA FOR SOIL MOISTURE RETRIEVAL OVER AGRICULTURAL CROPS
447
TABLE V
SIMULATED (hxi) AND RETRIEVED (hy i) MEAN m VALUES, THE A AND
B PARAMETERS OF THE LINEAR FIT (I.E., Y = A + Bx), THE RMSE
AND CORRELATION COEFFICIENT (R) BETWEEN THE SIMULATED AND THE
RETRIEVED m VALUES, USING N = 3, N = 6 HH SAR ACQUISITIONS AT
C BAND AND AT 30 INCIDENCE. THE TOTAL (MODEL AND MEASUREMENT)
ERROR BETWEEN RT MODEL AND ALPHA APPROXIMATION BACKSCATTER
RATIOS OF WHEAT AND RAPE CROPS AT DIFFERENT FRESH BIOMASS
VALUES (f b) IS ALSO REPORTED
TABLE VI
AS TABLE V BUT AT L-BAND
the soil contribution, does not analytically predict the decoupling between the term depending on dielectric constant and on
the roughness [30]. Under these circumstances, the performed
simulation, which is based on the alpha approximation, i.e.,
(3)
accounts for the presence of model errors concerning both the
vegetation and the soil layer.
Tables V and VI report the simulated and retrieved mean
values (i.e.,
[%] and
[%], respectively), the linear fit parameters A [%] and B (i.e.,
), the rmse, and the correlation coefficient (R) between 209520 simulated and retrieved
values, at C and L-band, respectively. Two sets of simulations, referring to
and
, at 30 incidence angle,
at HH polarization and at different
values (i.e., 0.6
,
2.6
and 5
) have been performed. The total rmse
errors (i.e., including model and measurement error) are also
reported. In general, they increase with
and are larger at Cthan at L-band and for winter rape than winter wheat. More precisely, for winter wheat, both at C and L band, the total error on
backscatter is not larger than 1.1 dB, whereas for winter rape at
C-band it can exceed 2.0 dB. As a consequence, at C-band soil
moisture values can be retrieved with accuracies between 5%
and 6% during the entire winter wheat phenological cycle and
during the first phenological stages of winter rape. Conversely,
at L-band,
can be retrieved over wheat and rape fields during
the entire growing season with comparable accuracies. In general, better results on
retrieval are achieved as increases
from 3 to 6 irrespective to the value. This is probably because
the higher , the better the ratio between the
independent
equations and the
unknowns, under the hypothesis that soil
roughness and
do not significantly change. It may be worth
mentioning that for larger values of a sort of saturation in the
rmse was observed.
Concerning the AgriSAR experimental data, Fig. 8(a) shows
values obthe scatter plots between observed and retrieved
tained using
acquisitions at C band over wheat field 221
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IEEE JOURNAL OF SELECTED TOPICS IN APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATIONS AND REMOTE SENSING, VOL. 4, NO. 2, JUNE 2011
BALENZANO et al.: DENSE TEMPORAL SERIES OF C- AND L-BAND SAR DATA FOR SOIL MOISTURE RETRIEVAL OVER AGRICULTURAL CROPS
449
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