Soil moisture is an important variable in ecological, hydrological, and meteorological studies. An effective method for improving the accuracy of soil moisture retrieval is the mutual supplementation of multi-source data. The sensor configuration and band settings of different optical sensors lead to differences in band reflectivity in the inter-data, further resulting in the differences between vegetation indices. The combination of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data with multi-source optical data has been widely used for soil moisture retrieval. However, the influence of vegetation indices derived from different sources of optical data on retrieval accuracy has not been comparatively analyzed thus far. Therefore, the suitability of vegetation parameters derived from different sources of optical data for accurate soil moisture retrieval requires further investigation. In this study, vegetation indices derived from GF-1, Landsat-8, and Sentinel-2 were compared. Based on Sentinel-1 SAR and three optical data, combined with the water cloud model (WCM) and the advanced integral equation model (AIEM), the accuracy of soil moisture retrieval was investigated. The results indicate that, Sentinel-2 data were more sensitive to vegetation characteristics and had a stronger capability for vegetation signal detection. The ranking of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values from the three sensors was as follows: the largest was in Sentinel-2, followed by Landsat-8, and the value of GF-1 was the smallest. The normalized difference water index (NDWI) value of Landsat-8 was larger than that of Sentinel-2. With reference to the relative components in the WCM model, the contribution of vegetation scattering exceeded that of soil scattering within a vegetation index range of approximately 0.55–0.6 in NDVI-based models and all ranges in NDWI1-based models. The threshold value of NDWI2 for calculating vegetation water content (VWC) was approximately an NDVI value of 0.4–0.55. In the soil moisture retrieval, Sentinel-2 data achieved higher accuracy than data from the other sources and thus was more suitable for the study for combination with SAR in soil moisture retrieval. Furthermore, compared with NDVI, higher accuracy of soil moisture could be retrieved by using NDWI1 (R2 = 0.623, RMSE = 4.73%). This study provides a reference for the selection of optical data for combination with SAR in soil moisture retrieval.

Long time-series monitoring of mangroves to marine erosion in the Bay of Bangkok, using Landsat data from 1987 to 2017, shows responses including landward retreat and seaward extension. Quantitative assessment of these responses with respect to spatial distribution and vegetation growth shows differing relationships depending on mangrove growth stage. Using transects perpendicular to the shoreline, we calculated the cross-shore mangrove extent (width) to represent spatial distribution, and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was used to represent vegetation growth. Correlations were then compared between mangrove seaside changes and the two parameters—mangrove width and NDVI—at yearly and 10-year scales. Both spatial distribution and vegetation growth display positive impacts on mangrove ecosystem stability: At early growth stages, mangrove stability is positively related to spatial distribution, whereas at mature growth the impact of vegetation growth is greater. Thus, we conclude that at early growth stages, planting width and area are more critical for stability, whereas for mature mangroves, management activities should focus on sustaining vegetation health and density. This study provides new rapid insights into monitoring and managing mangroves, based on analyses of parameters from historical satellite-derived information, which succinctly capture the net effect of complex environmental and human disturbances.

Snow depth and snow water equivalent (SWE) are two parameters for measuring snowfall. By exploiting the Global Navigation Satellite System reflectometry (GNSS-R) technique and thousands of existing GNSS Continuous Operating Reference Stations (CORS) deployed in the cryosphere, it is possible to improve the temporal and spatial resolutions of the SWE measurement. In this paper, a fusion model for combining multi-satellite SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) snow depth estimations is proposed, which uses peak spectral powers associated with each of the snow depth estimations. To simplify the estimation of SWE, the complete snowfall period over a winter season is split into snow accumulation, transition, and melting period in accordance with the variation characteristics of snow depth and SWE. By extensively using in situ snow depth and SWE observations recorded by snow telemetry network (SNOTEL) and regression analysis, three empirical models are developed to describe the relationship between snow depth and SWE for the three periods, respectively. Based on the snow depth fusion model and the SWE empirical models, an SWE estimation algorithm is proposed. Three data sets recorded in different environments are used to test the proposed method. The results demonstrate that there exists good agreement between the in situ SWE measurements and the SWE estimates produced by the proposed method; the root-mean-square error of SWE estimations is smaller than 6 cm when the SWE is up to 80 cm.

Aims Quantitative evaluation of the vegetation normalized differential vegetation index (NDVI) dynamics plays an important role in understanding of the characteristics of regional ecological environment change and realizing the harmonious and sustainable development between regional ecology and socio-economy. Methods The study employed the supplementary trend analysis with MODIS-NDVI data, analyzed the spatiotemporal patterns of vegetation NDVI and the driving factors behind the changes in Xilin Gol during 2000-2015. Then, the ratio of the overlapped areas to the areas with significant NDVI changes was defined as the contribution rate. Important findings 1) NDVI represented a slow vegetation increase trend and showed a "Northeast high and Southwest low" spatio-temporal pattern. The NDVI significantly increased area was twice of the area significantly reduced. 2) The vegetation NDVI showed a significant spatial heterogeneity under the dual effects of climate and human activities. In the area of NDVI significantly increased, climate factor accounted for 47.79% of the causes, and the precipitation and temperature make nearly equal contributions while the policies of grazing prohibition and balance management between grass and livestock is the most important human factor, accounting for 69.55% of the causes. 3) In the area of NDVI significantly reduced, climate factors accounted for 52.55% of the causes, in which precipitation was the main factor among all. Human activities accounted for 24.73% of the causes. 4) In the area of NDVI significantly increased, the impact of human activities is greater than that of climatic factors, and the coupling effect between them is prominent.

In this paper, GNSS interferometric reflectometry (GNSS-IR) is firstly proposed to estimate ground surface subsidence caused by underground coal mining. Ground subsidence on the main direction of a coal seam is described by using the probability integral model (PIM) with unknown parameters. Based on the laws of reflection in geometric optics, model of GNSS signal-to-noise (SNR) observation for the tilt surface, which results from differential subsidence of ground points, is derived. Semi-cycle SNR observations fitting method is used to determine the phase of the SNR series. Phase variation of the SNR series is used to calculate reflector height of ground specular reflection point. Based on the reflector height and ground tilt angle, an iterative algorithm is proposed to determine coefficients of PIM, and thus subsidence of the ground reflection point. By using the low-cost navigational GNSS receiver and antenna, an experimental campaign was conducted to validate the proposed method. The results show that, when the maximum subsidence is 3076 mm, the maximum relative error of the proposed method-based subsidence estimation is 5.5%. This study also suggests that, based on the proposed method, the navigational GNSS instrument can be treated as a new type of sensor for continuously measuring ground subsidence deformation in a cost-effective way.