On the potential of the AMSR-E based Polarization Ratio Variation Index (PRVI) for soil wetness variations monitoring

Monitoring soil moisture dynamics, both in space and time, is important for understanding soil-vegetation-atmosphere interactions. Several operational satellite sensors could be used for monitoring soil moisture variations on a global scale. In this context, in this paper we investigated the potential of the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer on Earth Observing System (AMSR-E), analyzing soil wetness variations occurred in Central Europe during the August 2002 flood, by means of the recently proposed Polarization Ratio Variation Index (PRVI). In detail, thanks to the good spectral resolution of AMSR-E as well to its capability to achieve dual measurements in all channels, four PRVIs have been computed. Results of the inter-comparison among them will be shown and discussed in this paper, also by using the standard AMSR-E soil moisture products daily provided by NASA.