Assessment of Canadian soil water resources and freeze/thaw conditions through microwave remote sensing and data assimilation / Évaluation des ressources en eau du sol au Canada et des conditions de..

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The work proposed herein targets the call for proposals which will enhance Healthy Environment and Ecosystems; specifically we will develop tools for the Supply Protection and Management of Water Resources. Despite its crucial role in several environmental sciences, there is a lack in the temporal and spatial distribution of soil moisture for its use in an operational context. The project aims to develop new methodologies to assess soil water resources and soil's freeze/thaw state over three different representative landscapes types in Canada. These methodologies combine very advanced satellite data, passive microwave aircraft measurements, field-based observations, radiative transfer modelling, hydrological modelling and data assimilation in order to improve our understanding of the spatial and temporal variability of soil moisture and soil's freeze/thaw state in Canada. The research presented will be the first attempt for routine observations of soil moisture quantity over Canada. It has a great potential to have measurable impacts on flood prediction, drought monitoring, agricultural crop water assessment and water budget estimates necessary for sustainable water resource management. Also, upscaling of the future low-resolution (about 35 km) satellite data SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) will be addressed for soil moisture estimation.