Soil Moisture Change Detection with Sentinel-1 SAR Image for Slow Onsetting Disasters: An Investigative Study Using Index Based Method

Arnob Bormudoi (), Masahiko Nagai, Vaibhav Katiyar, Dorj Ichikawa and Tsuyoshi Eguchi
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Arnob Bormudoi: Graduate School of Sciences and Technology for Innovation, Yamaguchi University, 2-16-1, Ube 755-8611, Japan
Masahiko Nagai: Graduate School of Sciences and Technology for Innovation, Yamaguchi University, 2-16-1, Ube 755-8611, Japan
Vaibhav Katiyar: Graduate School of Sciences and Technology for Innovation, Yamaguchi University, 2-16-1, Ube 755-8611, Japan
Dorj Ichikawa: Graduate School of Sciences and Technology for Innovation, Yamaguchi University, 2-16-1, Ube 755-8611, Japan
Tsuyoshi Eguchi: Graduate School of Sciences and Technology for Innovation, Yamaguchi University, 2-16-1, Ube 755-8611, Japan

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-12

Abstract: Understanding physical processes in nature, including the occurrence of slow-onset natural disasters such as droughts and landslides, requires knowledge of the change in soil moisture between two points in time. The study was conducted on a relatively bare soil, and the change in soil moisture was examined with an index called Normalized radar Backscatter soil Moisture Index (NBMI) using Sentinel-1 satellite data. Along with soil moisture measured with a probe on the ground, a study of correlation with satellite imagery was conducted using a Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) model. Furthermore, the Dubois model was used to predict soil moisture. Results have shown that NBMI on a logarithmic scale provides a good representation of soil moisture change with R 2 ~86%. The MLR model showed a positive correlation of soil moisture with the co-polarized backscatter coefficient, but an opposite correlation with the surface roughness and angle of incidence. The results of the Dubois model showed poor correlation of 44.37% and higher RMSE error of 17.1, demonstrating the need for detailed and accurate measurement of surface roughness as a prerequisite for simulating the model. Of the three approaches, index-based measurement has been shown to be the most rapid for understanding soil moisture change and has the potential to be used for understanding some mechanisms of natural disasters under similar soil conditions.

Keywords: Sentinel-1; soil moisture; NBMI; disaster mitigation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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