Analysis of spatial and temporal consistency of soil moisture multispectral indices based on optical satellite data

This paper presents a multitemporal analysis aimed at investigating the spatial and temporal consistency of Surface Soil Moisture (SSM), retrieved from optical satellite data by means of multispectral indexes, in a test area in central Italy. In particular, multitemporal series of images acquired by Landsat satellites were processed to obtain SSM estimates by using multispectral indices proposed in the literature. Retrieved SSM values and their temporal trends were compared in order to verify their consistency with the pluviometric data of the same period and the correlation between them. The results have highlighted the usefulness of multispectral indices for monitoring wide areas over long periods of time, yet with some factors, such as geology, pedology and phenology, that can affect the quality of the results and reduce the correlation with pluviometric trend.