Assessment of the impact of spatial heterogeneity on microwave satellite soil moisture periodic error.

ABSTRACT: An accurate temporal and spatial characterization of errors is required for the efficient processing, evaluation, and assimilation of remotely-sensed surface soil moisture retrievals. However, empirical evidence exists that passive microwave soil moisture retrievals are prone to periodic artifacts which may complicate their application in data assimilation systems (which commonly treat observational errors as being temporally white). In this paper, the link between such temporally-periodic errors and spatial land surface heterogeneity is examined. Both the synthetic experiment and site-specified cases reveal that, when combined with strong spatial heterogeneity, temporal periodicity in satellite sampling patterns (associated with exact repeat intervals of the polar-orbiting satellites) can

SUBMITTER: Lei F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7580830 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature