Analysis of Key Issues on GNSS-R Soil Moisture Retrieval Based on Different Antenna Patterns

GNSS-R (Global Navigation Satellite System-Reflectometry) has been demonstrated to be a new and powerful tool to sense soil moisture in recent years. Multi-antenna pattern and single-antenna pattern have been proposed regarding how to receive and process reflected signals. Great efforts have been made concerning ground-based and air-borne observations. Meanwhile, a number of satellite-based missions have also been implemented. For the in-depth study of soil moisture remote sensing by the technique of GNSS-R, regardless of the extraction methods of the reflected signals or the types of the observation platform, three key issues have to be determined: The specular reflection point, the spatial resolution and the detection depth in the soil. However, in current literatures, there are no comprehensive explanations of the above three key issues. This paper conducts theoretical analysis and formula derivation, aiming to systematically and quantitatively determine the extent of soil moisture being detected in three dimensions from the above-mentioned aspects. To further explain how the three factors behave in the specific application, the results of two application scenarios are shown: (1) a ground-based GPS measurement in Marshall, Colorado, US from the Plate Boundary Observatory, corresponding to single-antenna pattern. The relative location of the specular reflection points, the average area of the First Fresnel Ellipse Clusters and the sensing depth of the time-series soil moisture are analyzed, and (2) an aviation experiment conducted in Zhengzhou to retrieve soil moisture content, corresponding to the multi-antenna pattern. The spatial distribution of soil moisture estimation with a certain resolution based on the flight tracks and the relevant sensing depth are manifested. For remote sensing using GNSS reflected signals, BeiDou is different from GPS mainly in the carrier frequency. Therefore, the results of this study can provide references for China’s future development of the BeiDou-R technique.