Using deep learning to tackle soil moisture estimation in hydrology

What is it about?

Soil moisture estimation is a prominent task in hydrology that people have been working on for a long time. With the advances in deep learning and remote sensing, we see promise in the application of these methods to the task of soil moisture estimation for improved performance. We obtain better results than most existing methods and our methods generalize well to unseen regions.

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Photo by Abhishek Pawar on Unsplash

Photo by Abhishek Pawar on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Soil moisture is a key variable in various agriculture and water management systems. Accurate and high-resolution estimates of soil moisture have multiple downstream benefits such as reduced water wastage by better understanding and managing the consumption of water, utilizing smarter irrigation methods and effective canal water management. Soil moisture is also a key variable in drought estimation and erosion. We develop a deep learning–based model that estimates the volumetric soil moisture content in the top ∼5 cm of soil at a nominal 320-m resolution. Our results demonstrate that deep learning is a useful tool for fusing different modalities with ease, while producing high-resolution models that are not location specific.

Perspectives