Remote sensing of soil moisture and wetland dynamics using SMOS data. Application in the Mediterranean basin.

Περίληψη

In this study, Soil Moisture from SMOS satellite data is used for regional and local detection of soil moisture and wetlands dynamics. SMOS soil moisture data delivered from the Level 2 algorithm are used to map and estimate wetlands and soil moisture seasonal variability in regional scale. For the Mediterranean basin, a qualitative as well as a quantitative analysis is performed. A more detailed analysis is also presented for Evros transnational river basin where the SMOS Soil Moisture estimations were synergistically used with MERIS based GlobCover. SMOS observations turn to be the most promising for further analysis, in order to achieve a better estimation of Soil Moisture and quantification of wetlands and their distribution in space and time.