Macro to micro: microwave remote sensing of plant water content for physiology and ecology

Alexandra G Konings; Krishna Rao; Susan C Steele-Dunne

doi:10.1111/nph.15808

Macro to micro: microwave remote sensing of plant water content for physiology and ecology

New Phytol. 2019 Aug;223(3):1166-1172. doi: 10.1111/nph.15808. Epub 2019 Apr 23.

Authors

Alexandra G Konings¹, Krishna Rao¹, Susan C Steele-Dunne²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Earth System Science, Stanford University, 473 Via Ortega, Room 140, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
² Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Stevinweg 1, Delft, 2628 CN, the Netherlands.

PMID: 30919449
DOI: 10.1111/nph.15808

Abstract

Although primarily valued for their suitability for oceanographic applications and soil moisture estimation, microwave remote sensing observations are also sensitive to plant water content (M_w ). Since M_w depends on both plant water status and biomass, these observations have the potential to be useful for a range of plant drought response studies. In this paper, we introduce the principles behind microwave remote sensing observations to illustrate how they are sensitive to plant water content and discuss the relationship between landscape-scale M_w and common stand-scale metrics, including plant-scale relative water content, live fuel moisture content and leaf water potential. Lastly, we discuss how various sensor types can be leveraged for specific applications depending on the spatio-temporal resolution needed.

Keywords: leaf water potential; microwave remote sensing; plant water content; radar; radiometry; relative water content; vegetation optical depth.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Ecological and Environmental Phenomena*
Microwaves*
Models, Biological
Plants / chemistry*
Remote Sensing Technology*
Water / chemistry*

Substances

Water