Evaluation of the FY-3B/MWRI soil moisture product on the central Tibetan Plateau

Soil moisture is a key variable in the exchange of water and energy between the land surface and atmosphere, especially over the Tibetan Plateau. The Fengyun-3B Microwave Radiation Imager (FY-3B/MWRI) soil moisture product is one of relatively new passive microwave products. This paper validated the FY-3B/MWRI soil moisture product using in-suit measurements within two soil moisture networks (1°×1° and 0.25°×0.25°) on the central Tibetan Plateau, and compared it with other fourteen products from satellite and land surface models based on published studies. Results showed that the FY-3B/MWRI soil moisture product is comparable with AMSR2, and outperforms LPRM_C, LPRM_X, ASCAT, AMSR-E (NASA), AMSR-E (JAXA), SMOS, and outputs from CLM, Noah, VIC, and Mosaic models. The good performance indicates that the FY-3B/MWRI soil moisture products could be valuable in studying meteorology, hydrology, the environment, agriculture, etc. on the central Tibetan Plateau.