Theory 73/Measurement & modelling/Remote soil moisture
Retrieval Is Vegetation Against Roughness
The claim
The accuracy of remotely sensed soil moisture is set by the ratio of vegetation optical depth to surface roughness, so a dense canopy masks the soil signal.
01Mechanism
Vegetation attenuates and roughness scatters; the ratio determines the signal-to-noise.
02Prediction
Error should track the ratio.
03Refutation
Error tracking sensor resolution would remove vegetation.