Abstract Booklet of the 4th Satellite Soil Moisture Validation and Application Workshop and the CCI Soil Moisture User Workshop, 18-20 September 2017, Vienna, Austria

Abstract

The 4th Satellite Soil Moisture Validation and Application Workshop and the CCI Soil Moisture User Workshop are taking place at Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) from 18 to 20 September 2017, locally organized by TU Wien’s Department of Geodesy and Geoinformation. The purpose of the Satellite Soil Moisture and Application Workshop is to discuss and reconcile recent methodological advances in the development, validation and application of global satellite soil moisture data. The workshop series is unique by bringing together satellite soil moisture users and developers to focus on both the derivation and exploration of soil moisture data from passive or active microwave satellite missions (SMAP, SMOS, ASCAT, AMRS-2, Sentinel-1, and other legacy missions). Following research questions will be addressed during this workshop: - What is the quality of the current satellite products and what can we expect in the near future? - What is information content at Level 1 and how to exploit the availability of multiple satellites? - Who is using satellite soil moisture data and for what purpose? - What are the best practices in validating soil moisture products? - What are the main limitations of satellite soil moisture data from a user’s perspective? - What is the future of satellite-based soil moisture remote sensing? The workshop follows up workshops held at the European Space Agency in Frascati (Italy, in 2013), at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in Amsterdam (Netherlands, in 2014) and at the Millenium Broadway Hotel in New York (USA, in 2016). The report from the 3rd workshop was published in the GEWEX News November 2016. The CCI Soil Moisture User Workshop is similar in scope but particularly invites users of the CCI Soil Moisture products.Users from any relevant application area are invited to present their experiences with the data and provide ideas for future product improvements. The CCI Soil Moisture User Workshop is an event organized within the framework of ESA’s Climate Change Initiative (CCI) Soil Moisture project.