Microwave remote sensing for agricultural drought monitoring: Recent developments and challenges
Agricultural droughts are extreme events which are often a result of interplays between multiple hydro-meteorological processes. Therefore, assessing drought occurrence, extent, duration and intensity is complex and requires the combined use of multiple variables, such as temperature, rainfall, soil...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Water |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frwa.2022.1045451/full |
| _version_ | 1798016431954067456 |
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| author | Mariette Vreugdenhil Isabella Greimeister-Pfeil Wolfgang Preimesberger Stefania Camici Wouter Dorigo Markus Enenkel Robin van der Schalie Susan Steele-Dunne Wolfgang Wagner |
| author_facet | Mariette Vreugdenhil Isabella Greimeister-Pfeil Wolfgang Preimesberger Stefania Camici Wouter Dorigo Markus Enenkel Robin van der Schalie Susan Steele-Dunne Wolfgang Wagner |
| author_sort | Mariette Vreugdenhil |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Agricultural droughts are extreme events which are often a result of interplays between multiple hydro-meteorological processes. Therefore, assessing drought occurrence, extent, duration and intensity is complex and requires the combined use of multiple variables, such as temperature, rainfall, soil moisture (SM) and vegetation state. The benefit of using information on SM and vegetation state is that they integrate information on precipitation, temperature and evapotranspiration, making them direct indicators of plant available water and vegetation productivity. Microwave remote sensing enables the retrieval of both SM and vegetation information, and satellite-based SM and vegetation products are available operationally and free of charge on a regional or global scale and daily basis. As a result, microwave remote sensing products play an increasingly important role in drought monitoring applications. Here, we provide an overview of recent developments in using microwave remote sensing for large-scale agricultural drought monitoring. We focus on the intricacy of monitoring the complex process of drought development using multiple variables. First, we give a brief introduction on fundamental concepts of microwave remote sensing together with an overview of recent research, development and applications of drought indicators derived from microwave-based satellite SM and vegetation observations. This is followed by a more detailed overview of the current research gaps and challenges in combining microwave-based SM and vegetation measurements with hydro-meteorological data sets. The potential of using microwave remote sensing for drought monitoring is demonstrated through a case study over Senegal using multiple satellite- and model-based data sets on rainfall, SM, vegetation and combinations thereof. The case study demonstrates the added-value of microwave-based SM and vegetation observations for drought monitoring applications. Finally, we provide an outlook on potential developments and opportunities. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T15:49:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bc696557c30f4879ab04112ce0577535 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2624-9375 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T15:49:28Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Water |
| spelling | doaj.art-bc696557c30f4879ab04112ce05775352022-12-22T04:15:21ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Water2624-93752022-11-01410.3389/frwa.2022.10454511045451Microwave remote sensing for agricultural drought monitoring: Recent developments and challengesMariette Vreugdenhil0Isabella Greimeister-Pfeil1Wolfgang Preimesberger2Stefania Camici3Wouter Dorigo4Markus Enenkel5Robin van der Schalie6Susan Steele-Dunne7Wolfgang Wagner8Department of Geodesy and Geoinformation, TU Wien, Vienna, AustriaDepartment of Geodesy and Geoinformation, TU Wien, Vienna, AustriaDepartment of Geodesy and Geoinformation, TU Wien, Vienna, AustriaResearch Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection IRPI, Italian National Research Council, Perugia, ItalyDepartment of Geodesy and Geoinformation, TU Wien, Vienna, AustriaHarvard Humanitarian Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United StatesPlanet Labs, Haarlem, NetherlandsDepartment of Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Delft University of Technology, Delft, NetherlandsDepartment of Geodesy and Geoinformation, TU Wien, Vienna, AustriaAgricultural droughts are extreme events which are often a result of interplays between multiple hydro-meteorological processes. Therefore, assessing drought occurrence, extent, duration and intensity is complex and requires the combined use of multiple variables, such as temperature, rainfall, soil moisture (SM) and vegetation state. The benefit of using information on SM and vegetation state is that they integrate information on precipitation, temperature and evapotranspiration, making them direct indicators of plant available water and vegetation productivity. Microwave remote sensing enables the retrieval of both SM and vegetation information, and satellite-based SM and vegetation products are available operationally and free of charge on a regional or global scale and daily basis. As a result, microwave remote sensing products play an increasingly important role in drought monitoring applications. Here, we provide an overview of recent developments in using microwave remote sensing for large-scale agricultural drought monitoring. We focus on the intricacy of monitoring the complex process of drought development using multiple variables. First, we give a brief introduction on fundamental concepts of microwave remote sensing together with an overview of recent research, development and applications of drought indicators derived from microwave-based satellite SM and vegetation observations. This is followed by a more detailed overview of the current research gaps and challenges in combining microwave-based SM and vegetation measurements with hydro-meteorological data sets. The potential of using microwave remote sensing for drought monitoring is demonstrated through a case study over Senegal using multiple satellite- and model-based data sets on rainfall, SM, vegetation and combinations thereof. The case study demonstrates the added-value of microwave-based SM and vegetation observations for drought monitoring applications. Finally, we provide an outlook on potential developments and opportunities.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frwa.2022.1045451/fulldroughtmicrowave remote sensingagriculturesoil moisturevegetation |
| spellingShingle | Mariette Vreugdenhil Isabella Greimeister-Pfeil Wolfgang Preimesberger Stefania Camici Wouter Dorigo Markus Enenkel Robin van der Schalie Susan Steele-Dunne Wolfgang Wagner Microwave remote sensing for agricultural drought monitoring: Recent developments and challenges Frontiers in Water drought microwave remote sensing agriculture soil moisture vegetation |
| title | Microwave remote sensing for agricultural drought monitoring: Recent developments and challenges |
| title_full | Microwave remote sensing for agricultural drought monitoring: Recent developments and challenges |
| title_fullStr | Microwave remote sensing for agricultural drought monitoring: Recent developments and challenges |
| title_full_unstemmed | Microwave remote sensing for agricultural drought monitoring: Recent developments and challenges |
| title_short | Microwave remote sensing for agricultural drought monitoring: Recent developments and challenges |
| title_sort | microwave remote sensing for agricultural drought monitoring recent developments and challenges |
| topic | drought microwave remote sensing agriculture soil moisture vegetation |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frwa.2022.1045451/full |
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