Mapping Agricultural Frozen Soil on the Watershed Scale Using Remote Sensing Data

Abstract

This paper presents an empirical model for classifying frozen/unfrozen soils in the entire Bras d'Henri River watershed (167 km 2 ) near Quebec City (Quebec, Canada). It was developed to produce frozen soil maps under snow cover using RADARSAT-1 fine mode images and in situ data during three winters. Twelve RADARSAT-1 images were analyzed from fall 2003 to spring 2006 to discern the intra-and interannual variability of frozen soil characteristics. Regression models were developed for each soil group (parent material-drainage-soil type) and land cover to establish a threshold for frozen soil from the backscattering coefficients (HH polarization). Tilled fields showed higher backscattering signal (+3 dB) than the untilled fields. The overall classification accuracy was 87% for frozen soils and 94% for unfrozen soils. With respect to land use, that is, tilled versus untilled fields, an overall accuracy of 89% was obtained for the tilled fields and 92% for the untilled fields. Results show that this new mapping approach using RADARSAT-1 images can provide estimates of surface soil status (frozen/unfrozen) at the watershed scale in agricultural areas.

Identification of thawed and frozen soil state in some Siberia regions by multi-temporal Sentinel 1 radar data in 2017-2018

“…Thus, for the C-band, the jump in the soil DC value is about 20 units for silty clay, 15 for silt loam and about 10 for sandy loam. And as shown by [3], [4], the jump in backscatter coefficient is 3-5 dB, what is the basis for identification of thawed/frozen soils by radar data.…”

“…Remote sensing offers promising methods for monitoring the near-surface state of frozen/thawed soils on a wide geographical scale [3], [4]. The use of radiometers is limited due to their low spatial V International Conference on "Information Technology and Nanotechnology" (ITNT-2019) Image Processing and Earth Remote Sensing N V Rodionova V International Conference on "Information Technology and Nanotechnology" (ITNT-2019) 2 resolution.…”

Backscattering From the Near-Surface Layer of Thawed/Frozen Soils of Alaska From Sentinel 1 Radar Data

“…Remote sensing offers promising methods for monitoring the near-surface state of frozen/ thawed soils on a wide geographical scale [1,2]. The use of radiometers is limited to very large areas due to the low spatial resolution.…”

Sensitivity of RADARSAT-2 quad polarimetric and simulated compact polarimetric parameters to soil moisture and freeze/thaw state in southwest Ontario

“…Frozen soil can affect the decomposition of organic substances and the biota living in the soil [2]. It can also impose major impacts on the snowmelt runoff and soil erosion thereby affecting agricultural production [3]. Having accurate and timely soil moisture and freeze/thaw measurements would be invaluable for many science and applications discipline including hydrology, agriculture, flood and drought prediction, and weather and climate assessment [4,5].…”

“…Radar remote sensing offers promising techniques for monitoring near-surface soil properties. The radar response to soil is sensitive to its dielectric properties which are directly controlled by the water and ice content and soil texture [3]. The C-band radar signals can also easily penetrate dry snow [6], thus providing an opportunity to observe the underlying soil conditions during the winter.…”