Use of TerraSAR-X Data to Retrieve Soil Moisture Over Bare Soil Agricultural Fields

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 and 2) two images, one at low incidence and one at high incidence. This study shows by using three databases collected between 2008 and 2010 over two study sites in France (Orgeval and Villamblain) that TerraSAR-X is a good remote sensing tool for the retrieving of surface soil moisture with accuracy of about 3%(rmse). Moreover, the accuracy of the soil moisture estimate does not improve when two incidence angles (26 degrees-28 degrees or 50 degrees-52 degrees) are used instead of only one. When compared with the result obtained with a high incidence angle (50 degrees-52 degrees), the use of low incidence angle (26 degrees-28 degrees) does not enable a significant improvement in estimating soil moisture (about 1%).