Das Projekt "Entwicklung von Analysemethoden zur Bestimmung der oberflaechennahen Bodenfeuchte aus Satellitendaten" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Basel, Institut für Meteorologie, Klimatologie und Fernerkundung durchgeführt. Leading Questions: - How can the in-situ measurements of soil moisture and energy fluxes (sufficient time-scale but insufficient spatial scale) be combined with spatial informations of satellite data (sufficient spatial scale but insufficient time-scale) ? - Is it possible to model the topsoil moisture (and evapotranspiration) over a certain period and a certain area in a local scale? - To what extent can microwave data be used to get soil moisture information (using data of ERS-1, SIR-1, SIR-C, EMAC, Piroda and the laboratory experiment EMSL in the microwave dome of ISPRA)? - Can the information be improved by integrating high-resolution data from LANDSAT-TM or any other thermal-infrared scanner? Abstract: Spatial and temporal data of soil moisture and evapotranspiration are not available in the density needed in micro-to mesoscale climate models. Present and future microwave and thermal infra-red sensors are investigated to derive distributed information on topsoil moisture (and evapotranspiration). This project elaborates methods to derive spatial and temporal information from a combined approach using spaceborn (ERS-1, JERS-1, SIR-C, Landsat) airborne (EMAC, Priroda) and in situ measurements of soil moisture (TDR, tensiometers) and energy fluxes (Bowen ratio and eddy correlation) for two test sites located in Europe. A laboratory experiment (EMSL) in the joint research center in ISPRA investigates the microwave response in different moisture conditions in a controlled environment.