Global Evaluation of Remotely-Sensed Soil Moisture Retrievals

To date, limitations in the availability of ground-based soil moisture observations have hampered the large-scale evaluation of remotely-sensed surface soil moisture retrievals. Recently developed evaluation techniques offer the potential to greatly expand the geographic domain over which such retrievals can be evaluated by effectively substituting ground-based rain gauge observations for, less commonly available, ground-based soil moisture observations. Here, we apply the technique at a quasi-global (50degS to 50degN) scale using rainfall products derived from the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission Precipitation Analysis. Results provide important insight into the global-scale performance of current soil moisture remote sensing products.