A Typical Review of Current and Prospective Microwave and Optical Remote Sensing Datasets for Soil Moisture Retrieval

Abstract

Soil Moisture content is a vital indicator of both the weather and the water cycle. It has been a long-standing difficulty for the field of remote sensing to make sense of soil moisture's spatial and temporal distribution. For over five decades, researchers across the world have exclusively investigated the optical and microwave datasets for estimating soil moisture by developing various models, and algorithms. Nevertheless, challenges are faced in the consistent retrieval of SM at local, and global scales with higher accuracy in space and time resolution. The review was conducted in-depth, looking at the methods using optical and microwave data to determine soil moisture, and outlining the benefits and drawbacks considering the current needs.  With this research, a new age of widespread use of space technology for remote sensing of soil moisture has been ushered in. The study also acknowledges the scientific challenges of utilizing remote sensing datasets for soil moisture measurement.