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ESTIMATING SOIL MOISTURE CONTENT USING GNSS-R TECHNIQUE BASED ON

STATISTICS

Xuefeng Peng1, Xiuwan Chen1, Han Xiao1, Wei Wan2, 3, Ting Yang1, Zhenyu Yang1

1. Institute of Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China;
2. State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
3. Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

ABSTRACT Experiment 2002 (SMEX02), and the concept of using GPS


bistatic radar to sense temporal changes in soil moisture was
More and More efforts have been made concerning the clearly observed [6]. With a deeper investigation of the
GNSS Reflectometry (GNSS-R) technique since GPS signals GNSS-R, some researchers also retrieve soil moisture by
being found to be sensitive to geophysical properties, i.e., means of measuring interference between direct and
ocean surface roughness and soil moisture. Compared to reflected signals [7, 8, 9].
airborne observations, ground-based research could focus GNSS-R studies based on bistatic radar equation mainly
on the models using the reflected GNSS signal, regardless of focus on aspects such as equipment development,
the atmospheric attenuation and the reflection zone’s experiment conduction and model construction [10, 11].
movement. Two ground-based GNSS-R experiments were Observations from airborne platforms need to consider
conducted recently in Beijing. This paper proposes a atmospheric attenuation to the signals. Besides, the specular
statistical model based on least squares histogram fitting to reflection point moves forward along with the flight track,
process the acquired data. Although either the model error which makes it difficult to take vegetation cover and surface
or the mismatching of the measuring depth could lead to the roughness into account. These restrictions will limit the
discrepancy between the estimated and in situ soil moisture, accuracy of estimated soil moisture. This paper presents two
this approach can isolate the estimated values from different ground-based GNSS-R experiments conducted recently in
parts of the mixed surface and estimate soil moisture of a Beijing and proposes a statistical model which could process
homogeneous surface more reasonably than the simply the acquired data reasonably. Possible causes are discussed
averaging method. leading to the discrepancy between the estimated and in situ
soil moisture.
Index Terms—Global Positioning System, bistatic radar,
soil moisture, Gaussian distribution, fitting 2. FIELD EXPERIMENT

1. INTRODUCTION On Nov. 6th and Dec. 17th 2014, our research group (from
the Peking University), cooperating with members from the
In 1993 Martin-Neria proposed that GPS L band signals Beihang University, conducted two ground-based GNSS-R
could be applied to ocean remote sensing with a passive remote sensing experiments at Beijing Academy of
reflectometry and interferometry system [1]. Soon afterwards, Agriculture and Forestry. A DMR receiver developed by the
NASA developed a Delay Mapping Receiver (DMR) and the Beihang University was used with a sampling frequency of 1
corresponding scattering theory was put forward for sensing Hz. There are two antennas connected to the receiver: a
ocean surface parameters [2, 3]. Gradually, GNSS Right Hand Circular Polarized (RHCP) antenna for receiving
Reflectometry (GNSS-R) draw the attention of researchers direct signals, and a Left Hand Circular Polarized (LHCP) one
with its unique advantages [4]. Employing the same DMR for reflected signals. The experimental site was covered by
and relevant theory, Masters et al. (2000) correlated peak mature cabbage in November (Fig. 1 (a), (b)), whereas it was
reflected signal power to soil moisture, demonstrating the bare soil (Fig. 1 (c)) in December. Several TRIME-PICO
feasibility to determine soil moisture from reflected GPS sensors were used to obtain the in situ soil moisture with a
signals [5]. A GPS bistatic radar participated for the first time sampling interval of 5 minutes and depths of 3 cm and 6 cm.
in airborne measurements during the Soil Moisture

978-1-4799-7929-5/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE 2004 IGARSS 2015


Fig. 1 The experimental site and the structure of the instruments. a) GNSS-R instruments installed for the November
observation (mature cabbage); b) TRIME-PICO sensors installed for in situ measurements; c) GNSS-R instruments installed for
the December observation (bare soil)

3. FUNDAMENTALS OF THE STATISTICAL MODEL


4. METHODS AND RESULTS
By employing forward simulations, the lookup table (LUT) of
signal reflectivities for different soil moisture and satellite A statistical method based on least squares fitting is further
grazing angles was computed based on the soil dielectric proposed to distinguish the inversion values from mixed
model [12] and the Fresnel reflection coefficients [10]. With land surface. For the two selected time periods, the statistical
reflectivity and grazing angle of different sampling point histograms of the GPS-derived soil moisture values are made
available, corresponding soil moisture is calculated by and fitted by normal curves respectively (Fig. 3). For the
interpolating the LUT. During the non-precipitation period, November condition, since the experimental site is mixed
soil moisture remains approximately constant within several surface and mature cabbage attenuates GNSS signals
hours. The First Fresnel Zone (FFZ) represents the footprint significantly, soil moisture inversed from cabbage area and
of the GNSS-R measurement system [10]. Soil moisture bare soil differs remarkably and the histogram presents two
values does not change obviously within the FFZ if the soil peaks. A bimodal normal curve is subsequently applied
is homogeneous. Therefore, different sampling points can be using least squares fitting (R2=0.982). In contrast, for the
treated as repeated observations of the unknown ‘real value’ December condition with homogeneous land surface of bare
of soil moisture. soil, the histogram shows a single peak and is fitted with
Two observation periods are selected for analyzing: unimodal normal curve (R2=0.965). The estimated and in situ
4:25~7:05 Nov. 6th and 17:55~20:55 Dec. 17th (UTC). Both values of the two time periods are compared in Table 1. The
the signal reflectivities and the in situ soil moisture values errors could be attributed to either the model error or the
are shown in Fig. 2. There are fluctuations for the GPS mismatching of the depth between GPS detection and the in
reflectivities. For the bare soil condition, the roughness of situ instruments. More data are required to analyze or verify
the experimental site, the noises inside the instruments, and these circumstances. Moreover, the estimated value of the
the intrusion of experimenters are the mainly causes; while cabbage area (0.03 cm3/cm3) is lower than that of the bare soil
for the vegetated condition, the heterogeneous vegetation (0.13 cm3/cm3), which could be explained as vegetation
cover is an additional cause. The fluctuations are acceptable attenuation.
for hour-scale periods since the external factors can be
treated as random disturbance.

2005
1 0.5
PRN10 PRN2 PRN5 3 cm in situ 6 cm in situ
0.8 0.4

SMC(cm /cm )
3
Reflectivity

0.6 0.3

3
0.4 0.2

0.2 0.1

0 0
4:30 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30
Nov. 6th 2014 (UTC)
0.4 0.2
PRN19 PRN7 PRN11 PRN1 3 cm in situ 6 cm in situ

SMC(cm /cm )
3
Reflectivity

3
0.2 0.1

0 0
18:00 18:30 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:30 21:00 0
Dec. 17th 2014 (UTC)

Fig. 2 Signal reflectivity and in situ soil moisture content (SMC). The left y axes represents the signal reflectivity of ind ividual
satellites, while the right y axes represents in situ SMC of 3 cm and 6 cm in depth. The upper panel is corres ponding to Nov.
6th while the lower one is corresponding to Dec. 17th

1200 2400
Histogram Histogram
Normal Curve Fit Normal Curve Fit
1000 2000

800 1600
Frequency

Frequency

600 1200

400 800

200 400

0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 0 0.2 0.4 0.6
3 3 3 3
SMC Inversion Values in Nov. 6th (cm /cm ) SMC Inversion Values in Dec. 17th (cm /cm )

Fig. 3 Soil moisture inversion values histograms and normal curve fitting

Table 1 Comparison of the estimated soil moisture values and the in situ values (cm3/cm3)
3 cm in situ 6 cm in situ Estimated value
cabbage area: 0.03
11/06 0.20 0.24
bare soil area: 0.13
12/17 0.05 0.09 0.03

2006
5. CONCLUSION Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, IEEE
Journal of 3.1 (2010): 91-99.
The proposed method of fitting histogram for the estimated
soil moisture values with normal curve will be a good [8] Chew, Clara C., et al. "Effects of near-surface soil
approach for 1) isolating the estimated values from different moisture on GPS SNR data: development of a retrieval
parts of mixed surface; 2) estimating the soil moisture of algorithm for soil moisture." Geoscience and Remote Sensing,
homogeneous surface more accurately than the simply IEEE Transactions on 52.1 (2014): 537-543.
averaging method. Data from longer time series and more
land cover types is needed to analyze the inconsistence [9] Rodriguez-Alvarez, Nereida, et al. "Land geophysical
between the estimated and in situ values. The vegetation parameters retrieval using the interference pattern GNSS-R
impacts on soil moisture or vegetation water content technique." Geoscience and Remote Sensing, IEEE
estimation using GNSS-R technique need further Transactions on 49.1 (2011): 71-84.
investigation [13, 14].
[10] Masters, Dallas, Penina Axelrad, and Stephen Katzberg.
6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT "Initial results of land-reflected GPS bistatic radar
measurements in SMEX02." Remote Sensing of Environment
The authors acknowledge funding from China’s National 92.4 (2004): 507-520.
“Twelfth Five-Year Plan” Pre-research Program in civil space
field. [11] Katzberg, Stephen J., et al. "Utilizing calibrated GPS
reflected signals to estimate soil reflectivity and dielectric
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