Contribution of open access global SAR mosaics for soil survey programs at regional level: a case study in northeastern Patagonia

DEL VALLE, H.; BLANCO, P.D.; HARDTKE, L.; METTERNICHT, G.I,; BOUZA, P.J.; BISIGATO, A. J.; ROSTAGNO, C.M.

Geopedology

Springer

Año: 2015;

The Japan Aerospace Agency(JAXA) recently released multi-temporal global SAR mosaics derived from afour-year data acquisition project (2007-2010) of the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) PALSAR, L-band at 25 m spatial resolution. These open access datasets could assist traditional soil surveys and/or digital soil mapping programs undertaken at regional and sub-regional scales; through improving mapping accuracy while reducing fieldwork time, digital identification and classification of landscape types and geomorphic features, soil survey programs could be completed over extensive areas currently lacking reliable soil information. Argentina is a case in point of country that needs to establish operational Digital Soil Mapping (DSM) initiatives to address challenges and potential solutions of soil surveys at detailed and semi-detailed scales. These efforts could provide useful soil information products to complement or update existing soil survey data, and document methods and results. Although remote sensing has been recognized as an efficient technology to support data gathering and information generation for soil and terrain mapping, argentine national knowledge of how to operationalize these techniques is still incomplete. Limited research has been carried out on the potential of microwave remote sensing data for spatial estimation of different top soil properties, excepting soil moisture. This chapter intends to narrow down this knowledge gap by assessing the potential of ALOS PALSAR image mosaics for identifying and mapping land covers, as well as soil cartographic base, or value-added layer for integration in thematic soil mapping. The chapter also analyses changes in L-band backscatter overtime, and their relation to land degradation processes. To this end, a test area covering the northeastern Patagonia region of Argentina was chosen for its diversity of geology, geomorphology, soil, and land use, for the expertise already existing on its soils, as well as a regional soil map that is in preparation. The methodology applied in this research can contribute to the existing national need for spatially explicit soil information in resource management science.