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. 2022 Nov 11;9:687. doi: 10.1038/s41597-022-01772-x

Table 8.

Main inputs of the retrieval algorithms of SMOS, FY3-B and SMAP SSM.

Foundational model Zero-order radiative transfer model (i.e.,τw model)
Algorithm L-MEB for SMOS Qp model for FY3-B SCA-V for SMAP
Brightness temperature (TB) 1.4 GHz with muti-angles (2.5 ± 2.5 to 62.5 ± 2.5°) 10.65 and 36.5 GHz Interpolated TB at 1.41GHz using the Backus-Gilbert method
Soil roughness model

QHN model:

Q = 0;

NH-p = NV-p = −1 (low vegetation);

NH-p = 1, NV-p  = −1 (V-p), (forest);

H: from LUT based on IGBP (0.02 ≤ H ≤ 0.3)

Qp model:

The coefficients of Qp model are estimated using simulated data from AIEM

QHN model:

Q = 0;

N = 2;

H: from LUT based on IGBP (0.083 ≤ H ≤ 0.160)

Vegetation optical depth (τ) τ is retrieved in L-MEB with soil moisture simultaneously

τ = b × VWC/cosθ:

VWC: from an empirical function of LAI;

θ: the incident angle.

τ = b × VWC:

b: from LUT based on IGBP (0 ≤ b ≤ 0.13);

VWC: from the nonlinear function of NDVI

Soil temperature (Ts) from ECMWF (Level 1~3) from an empirical linear function of TB at 36.5 GHz from the GMAO-GEOS-FP (Level 1: 5~15cm and Level 2: 15–35 cm)
Canopy temperature (Tv) from ECMWF (Level 1: top 0–7 cm) Tv = Ts Tv = Ts
Single scattering albedo (w) from LUT based on IGBP (0.06 ≤ w ≤ 0.12) w = 0 from LUT based on IGBP (0 ≤ w ≤ 0.07)
Soil dielectric model Mironov et al. / Mironov et al.

*Q, H and N are the parameters of QHN model; H-p: Horizontal-polarization; V-p: Vertical-polarization; IGBP: the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme; ECMWF: the European Center for Medium range Weather Forecasting; AIEM: the Advanced Integral Equation Method; VWC: the Vegetation Water Content; LAI: the Leaf Area Index; NDVI: the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index; GMAO-GEOS-FP: the Goddard Modelling and Assimilation Office-Goddard Earth Observing System (model)-Forward Processing; LUT: Look-Up-Table.