SEA

Soil moisture Estimation optimized for Alpine areas (SEA) is aimed at analysing the most up-to-date algorithms based mainly on satellite data (in particular SAR data) and implementing a product to evaluate the soil water content of the top layer of the soil in Alpine areas.

Soil moisture content is a key parameter in many hydrological processes, where it controls the infiltration rate during precipitation events, runoff production, and evapotranspiration. At the same time, its estimation is important in meteorology, climatology, agriculture and disaster management.

Many algorithms have been already developed by exploiting data with coarse spatial resolution and/or aimed at a global scale perspective, which achieve good performance on average.

Unfortunately, Alpine areas are too heterogeneous for coarse spatial resolution products and the terrain characteristics are very peculiar in terms of topography and land cover. This aspect means that the previously mentioned algorithms do not behave very well in this case. Given these considerations, and the large interest on this area of Soil Moisture Content (SMC) maps for various purposes, the objective of this is to implement an algorithm that improves and/or consolidates existing products that estimate soil moisture in the specific case of the Alpine environment.

Contact persons: Giovanni Cuozzo, Mariapina Castelli, Claudia Notarnicola giovanni.cuozzo@eurac.edu, mariapina.castelli@eurac.edu, claudia.notarnicola@eurac.edu

This project aims at implementing an algorithm based mainly on satellite data with the purpose of producing soil moisture content maps tailored on the Alps.

The experience gained by EURAC in previous years and projects on this topic will be exploited together with the up-to-date products freely available to improve the estimation in terms of the specific characteristic of the alpine soil in terms of:

• Spatial heterogeneity
• Land cover types

The activities of the project are developed with a view to preserving the knowledge already developed at EURAC on this topic, satisfying the many requests of SMC maps over the Alps with different purposes, and in preparation for participation in an open ESA project. Moreover, part of these activities will be developed jointly with the interTwin project.

The structure of the WP of the project is the following:

WP1- Methods and products state of the art review and testing

WP2- Prototype implementation

WP3- Test & Validation of the prototype

WP4- Analysis of the result and Algorithm Refinement

WP5- Preparation for a project proposal

WP6- Update and maintenance of the current EURAC SMC product

WP7- Dissemination

As a first step a literature review on the state of the art will be carried out considering the characteristics of the different types of the most up-to-date methods. The selected freely available products will be tested on different test areas of interest on the Alps, selected in terms of topography, land cover types, and availability of ground data for validation purposes. Regarding this point the stations located in Val Mazia represent an example of a long time series of measurements collected by automatic stations in the alpine environment. The most suitable methodology will be selected and, as consequence, satellite data and auxiliary information will be selected and prepared.

Starting from the experience gained in the past with the algorithms developed by EURAC, the prototype of a new algorithm will be implemented, tested and validated on selected alpine areas. Analysis of the results will be exploited for refinement and improvement of the algorithm with the purpose of developing a new SMC product.

The research question on the adaptation of SMC methods to Alpine areas, also considering the challenging problem of estimation under tree canopies, will lead to the submission of a scientific paper. Possibly, also other opportunities of dissemination will be evaluated like the participation to conferences to present the work developed.

The current SMC product will be updated and maintained to guarantee the continuity of the data delivery to the end users.

In collaboration with the ACEO group an implementation of the algorithm on a dedicated platform will be carried out.