Remote Sensing of

soils

SUT 14

21 June 2021
Soil Properties
• Spectral reflectance is a
function of soil texture,
moisture, salinity, surface
roughness, organic
matter, iron oxide

Reflective SWIR region (1.2-2.5 μm): sensitive to

moisture content of soil and vegetation

Large particle size: less reflection/

more absorption

Small particle size: more reflection/

less absorption
Reflectance from Moist
Sand and Clay Soils

Reflectance curves for clay and

and sand soils with no-to-little
moisture content: Reflectance
generally increases with
increasing wavelength

Higher moisture content in (a)

sandy soil, and (b) clayey soil
results in decreased reflectance
throughout the visible and near-
infrared region, especially in the
water-absorption bands at 1.4,
1.9, and 2.7 mm.

Jensen, 2000
Illustration of Reflectance from Dry
versus Wet Soils

Total reflectance from the dry soil is a

function of specular reflectance and
the internal volume reflectance.

The greater the amount of water in the

soil, the greater the absorption of
incident energy and the lower the soil
reflectance.

Jensen, 2007
 Illustration of SWIR region (1.2-2.5 μm):
sensitivity to moisture content of
vegetation
Water is a good absorber of incident middle-IR energy…in particular SWIR

H Leaf Moisture Content

Reflectance
Absorption
~6.27µm

Water
~2.7µm

absorption band:
0.97 µm
1.19 µm
1.45 µm
1.94 µm
2.70 µm Fundamental/
strongest..

(Incident Solar energy)

Virtually similar observation in the SWIR region can be expected for soil moisture content
Soil Basics

 Soil definition: A weathered material between the

surface of the Earth and the bedrock.
 Soils exhibit different composition and sizes of
particles of minerals and organic matter
 Particles are about 50% of the soil volume, pores
occupy the rest of the space. Pores can contain air
or water (or ice!)
 Soils have vertical zonation (soil horizons) created by
biological, chemical and physical processes
Soil Horizons: O horizon (‘zone-of life’)
 Created by interaction of H2O,
other chemicals, heat, organic
material and air among the soil
particles
 More than 20% partially
decayed organic matter
(“humus”)
 Complex mixture of inorganic
soil particles and decaying
organic matter
 Typically dark brown or even
black surface layer, ranging
from a few cm to several m in
areas where dense plant cover
exist
9 Soil horizons
 Plant root systems extract much
of their H2O and nutrients
Soil Horizons…cont
 A horizon: zone of
eluviation/leaching; water
leaches many minerals; often
pale and sandy
 E horizon: mineral layer with loss
of some combination of silicate
clay, iron, aluminum
 B horizon: materials leached
from other zones end up here;
often lots of clay and iron
oxides
 C horizon: weathered parent
material; mostly mineral
 R horizon: bedrock (solid
unweathered rock lying
9 Soil horizons
beneath surface deposits of
soil)
See more detail in pages 508-509 in the prescribed textbook
 Profile of Soil Moisture

0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30

0
-10
-20

Soil Depth (cm)

-30
-40
-50
-60
-70
-80
-90
-100
Soil Moisture

Soil moisture: Ratio of liquid water content to soil in volume or

weight
http://www.habitat.adfg.state.ak.us/geninfo/kbrr/coolkbayinfo/kbec_cd/html/ecosys/physical/soils.htm
Remote Sensing of Soil
Total Upwelling Radiance (Lt) Recorded by a Remote Sensing System over Exposed Soil is a
Function of Electromagnetic Energy from Several Sources

correct/remove
optical
microwave

Lt = at-sensor radiance of a pixel of exposed soil

Lp = atmospheric path radiance
Ls = radiance reflected off the air-soil interface (soil organic matter + moisture)
Lv = volume scattering, EMR which penetrates a few mm to cm

Jensen, 2007
 Radiance of Exposed Soil:
Model summary
 Model: Lt = Lp + Ls + Lv
 Lt = at-sensor radiance of a pixel of exposed soil,
 Lp = atmospheric path radiance, usually needs to be removed through
atmospheric correction,
 Ls = radiance reflected off the air-soil interface (boundary layer)
• a function of soil organic matter and soil moisture content.
• characterizes the O horizon, the A horizon (if no O), or lower levels if A and O
are nonexistent.
 Lv = volume scattering, EMR which penetrates a few mm to cm.
•penetrates approximate 1/2 the wavelength,
• Function of
• the wavelength (so RADAR may penetrate farther),
•type and amount of organic/inorganic constituents,
• shape and density of minerals,
• degree of mineral compaction, and
•the amount of soil moisture present.
 a . S o il S c ie n c e S o c ie ty o f A m e r ic a a n d U .S . D e p a r tm e n t o
S an d
C la y S ilt G ra v e l
v . f i nf ei n em e d i ucom a r s e v . c o a r s e

Soil
0 .0 0 2 0 . 0 50 . 10 . 2 05 . 5 1 2 m m 7 6 .

Grain
P a rtic le s iz e re la tiv e
to a g ra in o f s a n d
C la y S ilt 0 .1 5 m m in d ia m e te r

Size
0 .1 5 m m
S an d

b. M I T a n d B r i t i s h S t a n d
C la y S ilt S an d
G ra v e l S to n e
f i n e m e d i u mc o a r s ef i n e m e d i u m c o a r s e
0 .0 0 0
2 .0 0 60 .0 2 0 .0 6 0 .2 0 .6 2 m m
c. I n t e r n a t i o n a l S o c i e t y
S an d
C la y S ilt G ra v e l
fin e c o a rse
0 .0 0 2 0 .0 2 0 .2 2 m m

 Different size particles play different roles in soil:

 Sand (0.05 to 2.0 mm): large air spaces, rapid drainage of water
 Silt (0.002 to 0.05 mm): enhance movement and retention of soil
capillary water
 Clay (< 0.002 mm): enhance movement and retention of soil capillary
water; carry electrical charges which hold ions of dissolved minerals
(e.g. potassium and calcium)
Soil Moisture and Texture
• Clays hold water more
‘tightly’ than sand.
• Thus, clay spectra display
60 Sand
Sand
Sand 0 – 4% moisture content
50
40
more prominent water
absorption bands than
30 5 – 12%

20 22 – 32%
10 sand spectra.
0

a.
0.5 0.7 0.9 1.1 1.3 1.5 1.7 1.9 2.1 2.3 2.5
• Airborne Visible Infra-Red
60
Clay
Clay
Clay
Imaging
50 2 – 6%
Spectroradiometer
(AVIRIS) can be useful
40

30
20
35 – 40 %
for quantifying these
absorption features.
10
0
0.5 0.7 0.9 1.1 1.3 1.5 1.7 1.9 2.1 2.3 2.5
b. Wavelength ( µm)
 Soil Organic Matter (Lab-based)

Curvilinear relationship
for soils with 0 to 100%
organic matter

• The greater the amount of organic content in the soil, the

greater the absorption of incident EMR, and the lower the
spectral reflectance
• Organic matter is a strong absorber of EMR, so more organic
matter leads to darker soils (lower reflectance curves)
Varying reflectance vs soil properties
Soil Salinity
• Reflectance
increases with
increasing
surface salt
concentration
• Salt-affected soils
show relatively
higher spectral
response in the
VIS and NIR than
non-saline soils
do

Vegetation vs saline and non-saline soils

Important properties of soil in an RS image?

 Soil texture (proportion of sand/silt/clay)

 Soil moisture content
 Organic matter content
 Mineral contents, including iron-oxide and
carbonates
 Surface roughness
True/False

• Both the reflective near infrared and short wave

infrared spectral regions are sensitive to moisture
content of soil and/or vegetation. [1-mark]

• Spectral reflectance of soil is a function of only soil

texture, moisture, salinity and surface roughness.
[1-mark]
True/False

Figure 1 illustrates that the greater the amount of water

in the soil, the greater the absorption of incident energy
and the lower the soil reflectance. [1-mark]

Figure 1: Illustration of reflectance from soil

True/False
In Figure 2 component Lv can be recorded using both active and passive
sensing, whereas the component Ls can be recorded through passive sensing
and not active sensing. [1-mark]

Figure 2: General remote sensing of soil

Soil moisture
 Water that is held in the spaces between soil particles.
 Surface soil moisture is the water that is in the upper 10 cm
of soil, whereas root zone soil moisture is the water that is
available to plants, which is generally considered to be in
the upper 200 cm of soil.
 Parameters:
 Gravimetric water content: ratio of the mass of liquid phase
to solid soil mass
 Volumetric water content: ratio of the liquid phase in soil to
total volume of the soil.
 Degree of saturation ratio of water volume over total soil
pore volume
 The parameters are commonly used as a measure of the
amount of water in the vadose zone (above the water table).
 Soil moisture is a key variable used to describe water and
energy exchanges at the land surface/atmosphere interface
How to get soil moisture (in situ)

 Directly in the laboratory, it is measured

gravimetrically; by weighing the moist volume of
soil, drying it, and then weighing it again.
 Indirectly: Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR),
neutron probe, capacitance probe, etc. these
methods must be calibrated against gravimetric
measurements.
 Global soil moisture data bank
 http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/soil_moisture/
 USA SCAN
 http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/scan/
Remote sensing soil moisture

 Thermal infrared techniques

 Microwave
 SAR
 Optical (visible/near infrared)
 Using solar radiation as a direct energy source, i.e., a
passive remote sensing method covering visible and
near infrared
Emissivity and Soil Moisture

 Recap: tempt-> average K.E of molecules in a substance.

 Anything with T>0 [K], radiates via the Stefan-Boltzmann law:
J = εσT 4

 In RS, the signal measured is the brightness temperature Tb of a

substance expressed as the spectral irradiance I(T,λ). Using the
Plank’s law;
−1
2hν 
3 hν

=
I (T , ν) 2 
e kT
− 1
c  
 I(T,ν)~[Js-1 m-2 sr-1 Hz-1 ]
 Further, Rayleigh-Jeans law defines the spectral brightness
temperature
2ckTb
Bλ (T ) =
λ4
Emissivity and Soil Moisture

 Brightness temperature related to emissivity for 0 to 5

cm surface layer
Tb = ε sTs + (1 − ε s )Tsky
 εs is soil surface emissivity, Ts is soil surface temperature

 Typically, (1-εs)Tsky << εsTs i.e. is ~ 2K, therefore εs ~ TB/Ts

 If Ts estimated independently, εs can be determined
 Typical range for εs is 0.9 for dry soil to 0.6 for smooth
wet soil