Relation Between Soil Surface Resistance and Soil Surface Reflectance.

Soil surface resistance is related to the water content of the surface layer of soil.  The water content of the soil surface layer also affects the reflectance of the soil surface, with wetter soils generally having lower reflectances.  The ability to observe soil surface reflectance may allow the estimation of soil evaporation using remote sensing.  A study was conducted where bare soil reflectance and evaporation (using eddy covariance) were simultaneously measured.  Changes in soil reflectance and evaporation were caused by rainfall events.  A relationship was observed between these factors, allowing the surface resistance term in the Penman-Monteith equation to be related to soil reflectance characteristics.