| Is the Fluctuation of Satellite Surface Soil Moisture from SMAP Related to Rainfall Variability? (Case Study Simineh- Zarrine(Boukan) Catchment, NW of IRAN) |
| Paper ID : 1373-SMPR |
| Authors: |
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khaled haji maleki *1, Alireza vaezi2, Fereydon sarmadian3, Wade T.Crow4 15951678181 2Department of soil science, University of Zanjan 3Department of soil science, University of tehran 4USDA-ARS Hydrology and Remote Sensing Lab, Beltsville, MD, USA |
| Abstract: |
| Soil moisture is a highly dynamic state variable that controls fundamental hydrological processes such as evaporation, infiltration, and runoff. Remotely sensed observations of surface soil moisture are becoming increasingly available from a number of satellite missions. NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission was launched on January 31st, 2015. The objective of the mission is the global mapping of high-resolution surface soil moisture and landscape freeze/thaw state. The Simineh-Zarrineh catchment selected for investigation is exceptionally well instrumented for surface soil moisture, hydrology, and meteorology research. This area located in the semi-arid region and provides a large proportion of Urmia Lake basin water requirement as the largest catchment with extensive agricultural activities. The specific objective of this study was to analyses the accordance of satellite surface soil moisture to precipitation in daily scale over the period of 2015–2018. SMAP soil moisture and precipitation data show a correlation of 0.86 in spring and a correlation of 0.81 in autumn, respectively. In the summer, the correlation coefficient between SMAP soil moisture and precipitation data is only 0.76; however, it still shows a good agreement. Results demonstrate that the soil moisture variations are subject to rainfall variations throughout the months. In the Simineh-Zarrineh catchment, precipitation concentrated mostly in the cold months (October to March) when soil is however relatively wetter. This is not surprising since soil moisture depends not only on precipitation but more on the surface water balance of precipitation, evapotranspiration, and runoff. |
| Keywords: |
| Soil moisture, Satellite data, Urmia lake |
| Status : Conditional Accept (Poster) |
