Articles | Volume 30, issue 15
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-4909-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-4909-2026
Research article
 | 
04 Aug 2026
Research article |  | 04 Aug 2026

Field-scale soil moisture retrieval from drone-based L-band radiometry with optical and thermal infrared priors

Zixi Li, Yan Li, Rui Tong, Peizhe Cheng, Fuqiang Tian, and Yao Zhuang

Data sets

The open data and code of paper titled ``Field-scale soil moisture retrieval from drone-based L-band radiometry with optical and thermal infrared priors'' Z. Li https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21768527

Model code and software

The open data and code of paper titled ``Field-scale soil moisture retrieval from drone-based L-band radiometry with optical and thermal infrared priors'' Z. Li https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21768527

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Short summary
Satellite soil moisture is too coarse and ground measurements are too sparse to describe field conditions. Drone microwave sensing helps fill this gap, but mixed signals from vegetation and surface variability reduce accuracy. We combine drone microwave, optical, and thermal data in a Bayesian framework to improve soil moisture estimates and quantify uncertainty. Field tests in China show higher accuracy, lower bias, and highlight small-scale heterogeneity as a key source of uncertainty.
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