How do we increase the quality and quantity of ground reference data for SAR-based products of aboveground forest water?

Paul joined University of Twente in October 2022 as a researcher. His background is in hydrology (Utrecht University), and he specialized in radar remote sensing of vegetation and soil during his PhD at Delft University of Technology. This thesis focused on sub-daily dynamics in agricultural fields, combining ground-based experiments and electromagnetic modelling.

At the University of Twente, Paul’s main research focus is on microwave remote sensing of forests in relation to drought. As part of this research, his mission is to accelerate the development of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite products to advance the study of forest response to droughts. An important part of his work is improving and expanding ground validation data.

Research objectives

The main objective of RISOTTO is to increase the quality and quantity of ground reference data for SAR-based products of aboveground forest water. This objective is subdivided into two themes:

1. The development of dedicated reference sites with high-quality observations of forest water dynamics
2. Exploring the opportunistic use of existing data networks, such as flux tower, dendrometer and GNSS networks, for cal/val activities.

This project aims to make the data openly accessible to accelerate the development of SAR-based products of forest water status. This way, we can exploit the potential of upcoming SAR missions and better observe and respond to the pressing changes in forest susceptibility to droughts in a changing climate.