GREENCYCLESII
1.6 Constraints on surface temperature and terrestrial hydrology using remote sensing
The objectives of the project is to produce satellite-derived soil moisture estimates for model comparison, validation, analysis, and improvement, with the final goal of providing more reliable hydrological predictions under a changing climate.
For that purpose, the program of work will comprise: 1) the development of methodologies that optimize the use of satellite observations for soil moisture estimation at global scales but using new available measurements such as ASCAT (active microwaves) and SMOS (low frequency passive microwaves), 2) the quantification the variability of the soil moisture since the 90's at seasonal and inter-annual scales over the globe and the identification of the factors that affected this variability, from both satellites and model outputs, 3) lastly, the development of innovative methodologies for the assimilation of soil moisture information in land surface models.
Primary Supervisor: Dr Filipe Aires (Estellus SAS)
Secondary Supervisor: Prof. José Pereira (Instituto Superior de Agronomia)
Fellow: Jana Kolassa