Journal
Inner Mongolia Normal University
Paper Keyword
Soil moisture, Spatio-temporal variability, AMSR-2, Mongolia plateau
Abstract
Mongolia plateau is located at a semi-arid and arid climate region, and the fragile ecological environment makes it sensitive to climate change. Soil moisture is an important component of the drologic cycle in terrestrial ecosystems and it is critical for predicting and understanding various drological processes, including changes in weather conditions, precipitation patterns, runoff generation and irrigation scheduling. Soil moisture is a function of the total effect of environmental factors. Thus, a soil moisture retrieval model for the Mongolia Plateau was built using microwave radiance transfer function and QP model based on AMSR-2 brightness temperature and SPOT normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data. Soil moisture was retrieved, and the retrieval precision was verified during vegetation growth period from April to October 2013 in the Mongolia Plateau. Meanwhile, by introducing an idea of spatial-temporal stability to explore the spatio-temporal variability of surface soil moisture. Combination with TRMM 3B43 precipitation and air temperature data acquired by meteorological stations, the study explored response characteristics between soil moisture, meteorological factors and vegetation.
