The validation of soil moisture satellite products based on hydrological parameters measured in a small basin, Romania
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24425/jwld.2025.156039Abstract
Stated from the idea that soil moisture is correlated with hydrological processes, this study proposed to validated two satellite products: Copernicus Global Land Service’s surface soil moisture at 1 km2 resolution (SSM 1 km) and Copernicus Global Land Service soil water index at 1 km2 resolution (SWI 1 km) taking into account a small basin, located in the west part of Romania, Moneasa representative basin (MRB). The analyses were based on a dataset spanning 2016-2021, which included water discharge, precipitation, evapotranspiration, surface soil moisture, and the soil water index. Based on the Pearson test, the results support the idea that soil moisture is the hydro-pedological parameter that can be analysed based on hydrological elements. The results indicated low correlation between soil moisture and precipitation or soil moisture and evapotranspiration at daily time step, but the aggregated values at 10 days can improve the corrections. The SSM 1 km has closer correlations with the hydrological parameters (streamflow, runoff) than SWI 1 km. The SWI 1 km products have the advantage of generating daily values during April-November from each year, but it has a higher degree of error, especially in forested basins (such as MRB). Overall, the findings emphasise the potential of satellite-derived soil moisture products to complement ground-based observations and enhance hydrological studies, particularly in data-scarce basins.References
Allen, V.G. et al. (2011) “An international terminology for grazing lands and grazing animals,” Grass and Forage Science, 66(1), pp. 2–28. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2494.2010.00780.x.
Anderton, P.W. and Chinn, T.J. (1978) “Ivory Glacier, New Zealand, and I.H.D. representative basin study,” Journal of Glaciology, 20(82), pp. 67–84. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3189/S0022143 000021225.
Bauer-Marschallinge, B., Paulik, C. and Jacobs, T. (2022) Product user manual. Soil water index collection 1 km Version 1. Copernicus.
Blume, T., Zehe, E. and Bronstert, A. (2009) “Use of soil moisture dynamics and patterns at different patio-temporal scales for the investigation of surfaces flow processes,” Hydrology and Earth System Services, 13(7), pp. 1215–1233. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-13-1215-2009.
Brocca, L., Melone, F. and Moramarco, T. (2008) “On the estimation of antecedent wetness conditions in rainfall-runoff modelling,” Hydrological Processes, 22(5), pp. 629–642. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.6629.
Ceballos, A. et al. (2005) “Validation of ERS scatterometer-derived soil moisture data in the central part of the Duero Basin, Spain,” Hydrological Processes: An International Journal, 19(8), pp. 1549–1566. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.5585.
Constantin, D.M. et al. (2025) “Water management in wheat farming in Romania: Simulating the irrigation requirements with the CROPWAT Model,” Agronomy, 15, 61. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15010061.
ISMN (2025) Methodology. International Soil Moisture Network. Available at: https://ismn.earth/en/data/ (Accessed: 10 April, 2025).
Lange de, R. et al. 2008 “Scatterometer-derived soil moisture calibrated for soil texture with a one-dimensional water-flow model,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 46(12), pp. 4041–4049. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2008.2000796.
Martínez-Fernández, J. and Ceballos, A. (2003) “Temporal stability of soil moisture in a large field experiment in Spain,” Soil Science Society of America Journal, 67(6), pp. 1647–1656. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2003.1647.
Mincu, F.I. and Neculau, G. (2024) “An experimental study on crop evapotranspiration in Romania,” Scientific Papers. Series A. Agronomy, 67, pp. 554–561. Available at: https://agronomyjournal.usamv.ro/pdf/2024/issue_1/Art70.pdf (Accessed: June, 25, 2025).
Minea, G., Iliescu, M. and Dedu, F. (2016) “Temporal rainfall properties at events scale in the curvature Subcarpathians (Romania),” Forum Geografic, 15(Suppl. 2), pp. 115–123. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.5775/fg.2016.141.s.
Montenegro, A. et al. (2019) “Spatio temporal soil moisture dynamics and runoff under different soil cover conditions in a semiarid representative basin in Brazil,” Advances in Geosciences, 48, pp. 19–30. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5194/adgeo-48-19-2019.
Ontel, I. et al. (2021) “Assessment of soil moisture anomaly sensitivity to detect drought spatio-temporal variability in Romania,” Sensors, 21(24), 8371. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/s21248371.
Ortenzi, S. et al. (2024a) “Definition of runoff thresholds integrating satellite data and in situ measurements: Results from Voinesti experimental basin (Romania),” Italian Journal of Engineering Geology and Environment, 1, pp. 235–242. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4408/IJEGE.2024-01.S-26.
Ortenzi, S. et al. (2024b) “Comparing satellite soil moisture products using in situ observations over an instrumented experimental basin in Romania,” Remote Sensing, 16(17), 3283. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16173283.
Paulik, C. et al. (2014) “Validation of the ASCAT Soil Water Index using in situ data from the International Soil Moisture Network,” International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 30, pp. 1–8. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2014.01.007.
Schumann, G. et al. (2009) “Progress in integration of remote sensing derived food extent and stage data and hydraulic models,” Reviews of Geophysics, 47(4), 2008RG000274. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1029/2008RG000274.
Seneviratne, S.I. et al. (2006) “Soil moisture memory in AGCM simulations: analysis of global land-atmosphere coupling experiment (GLACE) data,” Journal of Hydrometeorology, 7, pp. 1090–1112. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM533.1.
Singh, N. et al. (2021) “Soil moisture responses to rainfall: Implications of runoff generation,” Water Resources Research, 57(9), e2020WR028827. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR028827.
Subbarayan, S. et al. (2025) “Soil and water assessment tool-based prediction of runoff under scenarios of land use/land cover and climate change across Indian agro-climatic zones: Implications for sustainable development goals,” Water, 17(3), 458. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/w17030458.
Timilsina, B. et al. (2025) “Assessment of soil quality along the elevation gradient of the Seti River watershed in Pokhara Metropolitan City, Nepal,” Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 197, 296. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-025-13716-0.
Wang, Y. et al. (2023) “A review of Earth’s surface soil moisture retrieval models via remote sensing,” Water, 15(21), 3757. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/w15213757.
