[1] The evaluation of the relationship between satellitederived vegetation indices (normalized difference vegetation index and normalized difference water index) and soil moisture improves our understanding of how these indices respond to soil moisture fluctuations. Soil moisture deficits are ultimately tied to drought stress on plants. The diverse terrain and climate of Oklahoma, the extensive...

[1] The goal of this study is to understand the interaction between belowground and aboveground ecohydrologic dynamics as facilitated by hydraulic redistribution. We analyze the partitioning of moisture and energy between tall and understory vegetation, and soil evaporation. Both the competitive and facilitative dependencies are examined using a shared resource model where the soil serves as a ...

This paper presents a case study applying GNSS signals, which were reflected on the ground surface (soil, vegetation surface) to derive soil moisture and vegetation height data over a wheat crop field. The GPS antenna was installed at a height of 2.51 m. Soil moisture was retrieved as long as the vegetation height was lower than ∼20 cm. However, with a further increase in plant height, it was n...

We studied the impacts of re-vegetation on soil moisture dynamics and evapotranspiration (ET) of five land cover types in the Loess Plateau in northern China. Soil moisture and temperature variations under grass (Andropogon), subshrub (Artemisia scoparia), shrub (Spiraea pubescens), plantation forest (Robinia pseudoacacia), and crop (Zea mays) vegetation were continuously monitored during the g...

Areas affected by land degradation in Sub-Saharan West Africa between 1982 and 2012 are identified using time-series analysis of vegetation index data derived from satellites. The residual trend (RESTREND) of a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time-series is defined as the fraction of the difference between the observed NDVI and the NDVI predicted from climate data. It has been wid...

Soil moisture is an important yet unobserved reservoir of the hydrologic cycle linked to the spatial and temporal variability of precipitation [1]. The brightness temperature of the land surface at microwave wavelengths is sensitive to soil moisture. Terrestrial brightness temperature also depends on the temperature of the soil and vegetation canopy as well as other canopy and soil properties [...

Because of the large contrast between the dielectric constant of liquid water and that of dry soil at microwave wavelength, there is a strong dependence of the thermal emission and radar backscatter from the soil on its moisture content. This dependence provides a means for the remote sensing of the moisture content in a surface layer approximately 5 cm thick. The feasibility of these technique...

The present paper proposes a method for the evaluation of soil evaporation, using soil moisture estimations based on radar satellite measurements. We present firstly an approach for the estimation and monitoring of soil moisture in a semi-arid region in North Africa, using ENVISAT ASAR images, over two types of vegetation covers. The first mapping process is dedicated solely to the monitoring o...

In temperate European climates, the season of peak water demand by vegetation (summer) is out of phase with the season of greatest rainfall (winter). This results in seasonal fluctuations in soil water content and, in clay soils, associated problems of shrinking and swelling that can in turn contribute to strain-softening and progressive slope failure. This paper presents field measurements of ...