Estimating leaf moisture content at global scale from passive microwave satellite observations of vegetation optical depth

Forkel, Matthias; Schmidt, Luisa; Zotta, Ruxandra-Maria; Dorigo, Wouter; Yebra, Marta

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-39-2023

Articles | Volume 27, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-39-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Microwave remote sensing for improved understanding of vegetation–water...

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-39-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 27, issue 1

Research article

|

02 Jan 2023

Research article |

| 02 Jan 2023

Estimating leaf moisture content at global scale from passive microwave satellite observations of vegetation optical depth

Matthias Forkel, Luisa Schmidt, Ruxandra-Maria Zotta, Wouter Dorigo, and Marta Yebra

Data sets

Leaf moisture content (live-fuel moisture content) at global scale from passive microwave satellite observations of vegetation optical depth (VOD2LFMC) M. Forkel, L. Schmidt, R.-M. Zotta, W. Dorigo, and M. Yebra https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6545571

Short summary

The live fuel moisture content (LFMC) of vegetation canopies is a driver of wildfires. We investigate the relation between LFMC and passive microwave satellite observations of vegetation optical depth (VOD) and develop a method to estimate LFMC from VOD globally. Our global VOD-based estimates of LFMC can be used to investigate drought effects on vegetation and fire risks.