Derivation of surface soil moisture using multi-angle ASAR data in the middle stream of Heihe river basin

Radar remote sensing has shown its potential for retrieving soil moisture from soil surfaces. Since the backscattering process is also influenced by soil roughness, the characterization of this roughness is crucial for an accurate estimation. The algorithm proposed in this investigation aiming to obtain the roughness parameters for every SAR pixel which could facilitate the derivation of soil moisture in virtue of multi-angle ASAR images, and combined with a semi-empirical calibration for the correlation length. An application of the means was performed in the middle reaches of the Heihe river basin and achieved satisfactory results (RMSE less than 6 vol %).