A near-linear transect sampling method for validation of SMAP surface soil moisture in non-complex terrains

The global validation for SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive) Level-4 surface soil moisture using well-established core validation sites does not comprehensively account for all landscapes on earth’s surface due to the diverse nature of their intrinsic characteristics. Due to the inhibitive cost of implementing a standard validation site, this study presents an alternative sampling approach suitable for localized validation of SMAP data in non-complex terrains. It involves clustering a large heterogeneous study area to smaller units of non-complex terrains where landscape-defining characteristics are largely homogeneous, thus permitting the computation of areal soil moisture as a simple arithmetic mean of near-linear point measurements. This allows optimization of limited resources (a hand-held moisture sensor with site-specific calibrations) to balance the need for spatial representativeness of samples in the sampling unit and the need for temporal proximity of sampled measurements to the aggregation time of the satellite product being validated. For ease of movement, transect sampling is implemented along access roads that run across the sampling units to allow sufficient measurement replications within a reasonably short time. Validations with four different landscapes in Kenya show a good agreement between in situ measurements and SMAP with R2 of 0.76, 0.72, 0.80, and 0.82, and biases of −0.0246, +0.0113, 0.0004, and + 0.0035 m3 m−3, respectively for Mawego, Kuresoi, Sotik and Kapsuser sites. These results only marginally differ from those obtained with a spatially distributed sampling method, indicating the potential of the proposed sampling design for time and cost effectiveness in validations at non-complex terrains. An analysis of the temporal variability of SMAP soil moisture in the watershed is also presented, with an assessment of its significance in the selection of sampling sites for validation. Particularly, the concept of temporal stability of soil moisture as a basis for clustering validation sites is evaluated.