Variability in soil moisture using AMSR-E product- A regional case study in the province of Marathwada division, India

Soil moisture plays a crucial role in the assessment of weather patterns and analyzing the precipitation. The moisture analysis in the soil surface has been most efficient with passive remote sensing. The study attempts extraction of soil moisture and quantifying it with rainfall. The Marathwada division was selected as the study area, the region corresponds to low rainfall and is a drought-prone area. The data used were AMSR-E/Aqua Daily L3 gridded soil moisture and CHRS rainfall data, the daily product of 25 km×25 km resolution. The methodology was demonstrated for the years 2003, 2004, and 2005. A cumulative 122 AMSR-E daily ascending and descending scenes were retrieved and analyzed for the rainy season. The spatial analysis depicts peak soil moisture of 25% for the year 2005, greater than 20%, and 18% during 2003 and 2004, respectively. Peak moisture corresponding to all years is 20% in July compared to 13%, 17%, and 16% in June, August, and September, respectively. The temporal analysis revealed that during the onset of monsoon, soil moisture is 4% with 1.5 mm rainfall and it increases by 25% at peak rainfall of 39 mm. The soil moisture variation is in line with seasonal changes and rainfall variations.