Satellite soil moisture products, such as those from Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR), require diverse landscapes for validation. Semi-arid landscapes present a particular challenge to satellite remote sensing validation using traditional techniques because of the high spatial variability and potentially rapid rates of temporal change in moisture conditions. In this study, temporal...

Since its introduction in 1940, the plaster of Paris block method of measuring soil moisture by means of electrical resistance (4) has been widely employed in agricultural fields. Hydrologic research2 (16), war production problems involving guayule culture (11, 12), and many other investigations ranging from field irrigation to greenhouse studies have made use of this technique. Briefly, the me...

Within the frame of the project GeoBIRD (ESA contract 12950/98/NL/GD entitled "Retrieval of geoand bio-physical information from remote sensing data") an attempt was made to derive soil moisture by combining the microwave remote sensing model CLOUD and the land surface process model PROMET-V (PROcess oriented Modular Environment and Vegetation model. Three test sites in Europe, which show diffe...

The retrieval of the bare soil moisture content from TerraSAR-X data is discussed using empirical approaches. Two cases were evaluated: (1) one image at low or high incidence angle, (2) two images, one at low incidence and one at high incidence. This study shows in using three databases collected between 2008 and 2010 over two study sites in France (Orgeval and Villamblain) that TerraSAR-X is a...

This paper describes the relationship of forest soil dryness and antecedent rainfall with suspended sediment (SS) yield due to extreme rainfall events and how this relationship affects the survival of forest plants. Several phenomena contribute to this relationship: increasing evaporation (amount of water vapour discharged from soil) due to increasing air temperature, decreasing moisture conten...

The object of this study was evaluation of a walking tractor drawn peanut harvester at different conditions of soil moisture content and forward speed and comparing it with manual harvesting. The evaluation factors for peanut harvester were two levels of soil moisture content and three levels of forward speed. The results revealed that the effect of soil moisture content was only significant on...

this study was carried out to investigate the effective environmental factors in the distribution of vegetation in zirkouh rangelands of qaen. after delimitation of the study area, sampling of soil and vegetation were performed using randomized- systematic method. vegetation cover was recorded by using braun-blanquet combined abundance-cover scale in each sample. within each sample, one profile...

The object of this study was evaluation of a walking tractor drawn peanut harvester at different conditions of soil moisture content and forward speed and comparing it with manual harvesting. The evaluation factors for peanut harvester were two levels of soil moisture content and three levels of forward speed. The results revealed that the effect of soil moisture content was only significant on...

a r t i c l e i n f o Land surface model parameter estimation can be performed using soil moisture information provided by synthetic aperture radar imagery. The presence of speckle necessitates aggregating backscatter measurements over large (N 100 m × 100 m) land areas in order to derive reliable soil moisture information from imagery, and a model calibrated to such aggregated information can ...

Harvest operations conducted under conditions of high soil moisture on a wet pine flat in South Carolina resulted in a high degree of soil surface disturbance. Less soil surface disturbance occurred when soil moisture content was lower. Soil strength varied by soil disturbance class in wet harvested locations and highly disturbed areas were associated with low soil strength and elevated levels ...