TY  - EJOU
AU  - Abbas, Uzair 
AU  - Maqbool, Zahid 
AU  - Shahid, Muhammad Adnan 
AU  - Safdar, Muhammad 
AU  - Khan, Saif Ullah 

TI  - Retrieval of Surface Soil Moisture Using Landsat 8 TIRS Data: A Case Study of Faisalabad
T2  - Revue Internationale de Géomatique

PY  - 2025
VL  - 34
IS  - 1
SN  - 2116-7060

AB  - This study was conducted to devise an integrated methodology for retrieval of surface soil moisture (SSM) using Landsat 8 TIRS data. For this purpose, Landsat 8 images of 15 May 2021 (pre-monsoon) and 20 November 2021 (post-monsoon) were processed for retrieval of soil moisture index (SMI) based on land surface temperature (LST). Moreover, field-based SM in the laboratory was also determined and correlated with satellite-based SMI. A moderate correlation between field-based SM and satellite-based SMI with R<sup>2</sup> = 0.60 was obtained. Based on this relationship, SSM maps of Tehsil Faisalabad Saddar for the pre-and post-monsoon seasons of 2021 were developed. Significant variations in the spatial distribution of SSM of Tehsil Faisalabad Saddar (total area of 1492.45 km<sup>2</sup>) for pre- and post-monsoon seasons were observed. In the pre-monsoon season, 68.1% of the area of Faisalabad Saddar showed SSM contents ranging from 10.37% to 15.40%. Only 8.7% of the total area of Faisalabad Saddar exhibited SSM in the range of 15.41%–22.82% in the pre-monsoon season. It was astonishing to notice that no area in Faisalabad Saddar was detected with SSM above 22.82% in the pre-monsoon season. However, in the post-monsoon season, only 0.11% of the total study area exhibited SSM in the range of 0.0% to 26.97%. The maximum area (52.29% of the total area) in post-monsoon season exhibited SSM ranging from 36.18% to 40.02%, followed by 32.02%–36.17% (34.3% of the total area). The study concluded that satellite-based retrieval of surface soil moisture realistically monitored the variations in soil moisture due to the onset of the monsoon season. The novel methodology developed in this study could be helpful for policy making regarding groundwater recharge and its sustainable use in an area, as well as for estimating surface soil moisture to provide irrigation scheduling and crop management guidelines.
KW  - Soil moisture index (SMI); spatio-temporal changes; GIS; remote sensing; Landsat 8 TIRS; land surface temperature (LST)

DO  - 10.32604/rig.2025.064279