Satellite remote sensing?

Question

• Why can satellite remote sensing estimate soil moisture?

• What are the conditions that affect satellite soil moisture measurements?

• Technical parameters for your satellite soil moisture product: resolution, microwave wavelengths of sensors, active/passive ……

• Possible reasons/explanations for the error results

Answer 1

It has to do with remote sensing of microwaves. In the absence of vegetation, soil moisture dominates the signal. Go to Google scholar and read the abstracts of numerous papers by E.G. Njoku. (Not a joke!)

Answer 2

No accurate sensors developed to tell moisture levels in soils from satellite. Presence of water can be detected that far out but not saturation.

You are talking nothing less than 90 miles up.

Answer 3

Possibly by using ambient occlusion mapping or the roughness. for example, the more solid a colour looks the less shine or ‘wetness’ it has. Making it more ‘rough’ or solid. The contrary being the shinier or wetter something looks the more likely good it has water in it.

But I’m probably wrong.