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The performance of Metop Advanced SCATterometer soil moisture data as a complementary source for the estimation of crop-soil water balance in Central Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2018

S. Thaler*
Affiliation:
Institute of Meteorology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Gregor-Mendl-Straße 33, 1180 Vienna, Austria
J. Eitzinger
Affiliation:
Institute of Meteorology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Gregor-Mendl-Straße 33, 1180 Vienna, Austria CzechGlobe – Global Change Research Institute CAS, Belidla 986, 4a, 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic
M. Trnka
Affiliation:
CzechGlobe – Global Change Research Institute CAS, Belidla 986, 4a, 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic Institute of Agrosystems and Bioclimatology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, Brno 613 00, Czech Republic
M. Možný
Affiliation:
Doksany Observatory, Climatology Section, Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, 411 82 Doksany, Czech Republic
S. Hahn
Affiliation:
Department of Geodesy and Geoinformation, Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), Gußhausstraße 27-29, 1040 Vienna, Austria
W. Wagner
Affiliation:
Department of Geodesy and Geoinformation, Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), Gußhausstraße 27-29, 1040 Vienna, Austria
P. Hlavinka
Affiliation:
CzechGlobe – Global Change Research Institute CAS, Belidla 986, 4a, 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic Institute of Agrosystems and Bioclimatology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, Brno 613 00, Czech Republic
*
Author for correspondence: S. Thaler, E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Simulation of the water balance in cropping systems is an essential tool, not only to monitor water status and determine drought but also to find ways in which soil water and irrigation water can be used more efficiently. However, besides the requirement that models are physically correct, the spatial representativeness of input data and, in particular, accurate precipitation data remain a challenge. In recent years, satellite-based soil moisture products have become an important data source for soil wetness information at various spatial-temporal scales. Four different study areas in the Czech Republic and Austria were selected representing Central European soil and climatic conditions. The performance of soil water content outputs from two different crop-water balance models and the Metop Advanced SCATterometer (ASCAT) soil moisture product was tested with field measurements from 2007 to 2011. The model output for soil water content shows that the crop model Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer performs well during dry periods (<30% plant available soil moisture (ASM), whereas the soil water-balance model SoilClim presents the best results in humid months (>60% ASM). Moreover, the model performance is best in the early growing season and decreases later in the season due to biases in simulated crop-related above-ground biomass compared with the relatively stable grass canopy of the measurement sites. The Metop ASCAT soil moisture product, which presents a spatial average of soil surface moisture, shows the best performance under medium soil wetness conditions (30–50% ASM), which is related to low variation in precipitation frequency and under conditions of low-surface biomass (early vegetation season).

Type
Crops and Soils Research Paper
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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