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Evaluation of a surface energy balance method based on optical and thermal satellite imagery to estimate root-zone soil moisture

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dc.contributor.authorAlburn, Nathan E., author
dc.contributor.authorNiemann, Jeffrey D., advisor
dc.contributor.authorChávez, José L., committee member
dc.contributor.authorButters, Greg L., committee member
dc.date.accessioned2007-01-03T05:58:02Z
dc.date.available2007-01-03T05:58:02Z
dc.date.issued2014
dc.description.abstractVarious remote-sensing methods are available to estimate soil moisture, but few address the fine spatial resolutions (e.g., 30 m grid cells) and root-zone depth requirements of agricultural and other similar applications. One approach that has been previously proposed to estimate fine-resolution soil moisture is to first estimate the evaporative fraction from an energy balance that is inferred from optical and thermal remote-sensing images (e.g., using the ReSET algorithm) and then estimate soil moisture through an empirical relationship to evaporative fraction. A similar approach has also been proposed to estimate the degree of saturation. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate these methods for estimating soil moisture and degree of saturation, particularly for a semiarid grassland with relatively dry conditions. Soil moisture was monitored at twenty-eight field locations in southeastern Colorado with herbaceous vegetation during the summer months of three years. In-situ soil moisture and degree of saturation observations are compared with estimates calculated from Landsat imagery using the ReSET algorithm. The in-situ observations suggest that the empirical relationships with evaporative fraction that have been proposed in previous studies typically provide overestimates of soil moisture and degree of saturation in this region. However, calibrated functions produce estimates with an accuracy that may be adequate for various applications. The estimates produced by this approach are more reliable for degree of saturation than for soil moisture, and the method is more successful at identifying temporal variability than spatial variability in degree of saturation for this region.
dc.format.mediumborn digital
dc.format.mediummasters theses
dc.identifierAlburn_colostate_0053N_12641.pdf
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10217/88498
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherColorado State University. Libraries
dc.relationwwdl
dc.relation.ispartof2000-2019
dc.rightsCopyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.
dc.subjectsemiarid grassland
dc.subjectdegree of saturation
dc.subjectevaporative fraction
dc.subjectremote-sensing
dc.subjectroot-zone
dc.subjectArkansas Valley
dc.titleEvaluation of a surface energy balance method based on optical and thermal satellite imagery to estimate root-zone soil moisture
dc.typeText
dcterms.rights.dplaThis Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights (https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/). You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
thesis.degree.disciplineCivil and Environmental Engineering
thesis.degree.grantorColorado State University
thesis.degree.levelMasters
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Science (M.S.)

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