Estimation of soil moisture based on sentinel-1 SAR data: focusing on cropland and grassland area

Seongkeun Cho; Jaehwan Jeong; Seulchan Lee; Minha Choi

doi:10.3741/JKWRA.2020.53.11.973

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2020 Vol.53, Issue 11 Preview Page Next Page

Research Article

Estimation of soil moisture based on sentinel-1 SAR data: focusing on cropland and grassland area Sentinel-1 SAR 토양수분 산정 연구: 농지와 초지지역을 중심으로

30 November 2020. pp. 973-983

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Abstract

Recently, SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) is being highlighted as a solution to the coarse spatial resolution of remote sensing data in water resources research field. Spatial resolution up to 10 m of SAR backscattering coefficient has facilitated more elaborate analyses of the spatial distribution of soil moisture, compared to existing satellite-based coarse resolution (>10 km) soil moisture data. It is essential, however, to multilaterally analyze how various hydrological and environmental factors affect the backscattering coefficient, to utilize the data. In this study, soil moisture estimated by WCM (Water Cloud Model) and linear regression is compared with in-situ soil moisture data at 5 soil moisture observatories in the Korean peninsula. WCM shows suitable estimates for observing instant changes in soil moisture. However, it needs to be adjusted in terms of errors. Soil moisture estimated from linear regression shows a stable error range, but it cannot capture instant changes. The result also shows that the effect of soil moisture on backscattering coefficients differs greatly by land cover, distribution of vegetation, and water content of vegetation, hence that there’re still limitations to apply preexisting models directly. Therefore, it is crucial to analyze variable effects from different environments and establish suitable soil moisture model, to apply SAR to water resources fields in Korea.

Keywords

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR)

Soil mositure

Sentinel-1 satellite

Backscattering coefficient

최근 인공위성 자료를 기반으로 한 수자원 관측 분야에서는 공간해상도의 한계를 극복하기 위한 방안으로 SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) 센서에 대한 관심이 높아지고 있다. 토양수분을 관측하는 기존 위성 자료가 10 km 이상의 공간해상도를 지닌 반면, SAR 센서는 후방산란계수를 10 m 까지 관측할 수 있으므로 공간적인 분포를 보다 세밀하게 분석할 수 있다. 이러한 자료를 활용하기 위해서는 관측된 후방산란계수에 다양한 수문인자 및 환경적 요인이 미치는 영향을 다각적으로 분석하여 토양수분을 산출하는 과정이 필요하다. 본 연구는 토양수분 산정에 주로 적용되고 있는 WCM (Water Cloud Model)과 선형회귀 기법을 국내 5개 지점에 적용함으로써, SAR 영상을 기반으로 토양수분을 산정하고 이를 지점 관측 자료와 비교하여 평가하고자 하였다. WCM의 경우 토양수분의 즉각적인 변화를 관측하기에 용이하나 오차에 대한 보정이 필요한 것으로 판단되며, 선형회귀 방법은 순간적인 토양수분의 변동이 크게 나타나지 않았으나 안정적인 오차 범위를 나타내었다. 또한 토양수분이 후방산란계수에 미치는 영향은 토지 피복, 식생의 분포, 식생 내 수분량의 정도에 따라 모델별로 크게 상이한 결과를 나타냄을 알 수 있으며, 기존의 모델을 동일하게 적용하기에는 한계점이 많음을 알 수 있다. 따라서 복잡한 지형적, 수문학적 특성을 가진 한반도에서 SAR 영상을 수자원 분야에 적용하기 위해서는, 추후 각 지점 별 특성에 따른 영향을 다각적으로 분석하는 과정이 필수적이며 한반도에 적합한 토양수분 모델을 구축하기 위한 연구가 수행되어야 할 것으로 판단된다.

키워드

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)

토양수분

Sentinel-1 위성

후방산란계수

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Information

Publisher :KOREA WATER RESOURECES ASSOCIATION
Publisher(Ko) :한국수자원학회
Journal Title :Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
Journal Title(Ko) :한국수자원학회 논문집
Volume : 53
No :11
Pages :973-983
Received Date : 2020-08-27
Revised Date : 2020-09-21
Accepted Date : 2020-09-21
DOI :https://doi.org/10.3741/JKWRA.2020.53.11.973

Journal of Korea Water Resources Association ISSN:2799-8746(Print) 2799-8754(Online) 한국수자원학회 논문집

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