Continuous Ground Moisture Monitoring at Limestone Quarry Using Multi-Sensor SAR Images and in Situ IoT Sensors

In this study, we examine the potential of continuous ground moisture monitoring over a mining site using a combination of in-situ soil moisture sensors and multi-sensor SAR images. We focus on examining and improving methodologies for surface soil moisture (or ground moisture) retrieval from SAR measurements focusing on detailed in situ reference observations for several key sediments types in the study area. The mining site represents a limestone quarry located in southeastern Finland. We hypothesize that sediment-specific well-calibrated models can be instrumental in improving soil moisture retrieval under different weather conditions to produce spatially explicit ground moisture estimates at high resolution compared to baseline approaches. Studied SAR data are represented by Copernicus Sentinel-1 C-band images, and methodologies will be expanded later to L-band images from ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 and the upcoming NISAR mission.