Remote Sensing of Root-Zone Soil Moisture Using I- and P-Band Signals of Opportunity: Instrument Validation Studies

Root zone soil moisture (RZSM) is an essential variable in meteorology, hydrology, and agriculture. A penetration depth sufficient to sense RZSM requires frequencies below about 500 MHz (I- and P-band). Active or passive microwave sensing in these bands presents substantial technical challenges due to antenna size, radio frequency interference (RFI) and competition for spectrum. Bistatic radar using Signal of Opportunity (SoOp) (e.g. digital satellite transmitters) offers an alternative approach, through reutilizing powerful signals already occupying bands allocated for communications. Airborne experiments using 240-270 MHz sources were conducted in October 2016, followed by a campaign using 360-380 MHz from a fixed tower location in an agricultural research site during the 2017 growing season. A new campaign that will also include I-band (137 MHz) is presently being installed in advance of the 2018 season. This paper will summarize activities to support the reduction of data from these campaigns and development of soil moisture profile retrievals.