On the potential of Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) data for assessing soil moisture variability in the Basilicata Region

Soil moisture (SM) data can be used in various contexts related to the hydrological cycle, including agricultural monitoring, water resource management, and natural hazard assessment. In recent years, remote sensing data have been widely used to retrieve SM data at different spatial and temporal scales. In this study, we investigated the potential of the Soil Wetness Index (SWI), an index based on data acquired by the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) onboard the Meteorological Operational Satellite Program of Europe (MetOp) satellites, to provide reliable information on SM variability over a medium period. SWI variability at the monthly scale in the 2013-2016 period was analyzed for the Basilicata region (southern Italy), and the results, whose accuracy was evaluated for comparison with the SM product generated using the Advanced SCAtterometer (ASCAT) data, seem to indicate the good sensitivity of the proposed index, which showed mean correlation (r) values around 0,73 when considering both MetOp-A and -B satellites.