ARS | Publication request: Comparison of Vegetation Water Content Estimates From WindSat and MODIS

Submitted to: International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: March 26, 2010
Publication Date: July 25, 2010
Citation: Hunt, E.R., Li, L., Yilmaz, M.T., Jackson, T.J. 2010. Comparison of vegetation water content estimates from WindSat and MODIS [abstract]. International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium Proceedings. 2010 CDROM.

Technical Abstract: Determination of soil moisture content by microwave remote sensing is important for quantifying the global energy, water and biogeochemical cycles. Vegetation water content (VWC, kg m-2) is one of the important parameters for retrieval of soil moisture using passive microwave radiometers. Liquid water in leaves has strong absorption features at shortwave infrared wavelengths, which can be used to determine leaf water content, also called equivalent water thickness. There exist “allometric” relationships between leaf and stem water contents, particularly for annual crops, because stems are required to support the leaves so satellite sensors with shortwave-infrared bands can be used to estimate VWC independently of microwave retrievals. We show that the VWC retrieved from WindSat is linearly related to VWC estimated from MODIS imagery.