IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - December 2023 - 159

FIGURE 2. A group photo of ISMS2023.
Climate Experiment, the Global Precipitation Mission, and
the upcoming NISAR mission. After these lectures, participants
and experts gathered for a group photo (Figure 2).
The technical sessions of the school began with lectures
by Dara Entekhabi and Nagesh Kumar Dasika [Figure 1(e)
and (f)]. Dara Entekhabi provided an overview of advances
in our understanding of the global hydrological cycle using
satellite sensors and the importance of SM in predicting
extreme hydrological events. Nagesh Kumar Dasika discussed
the state of remote sensing and hydrology research
in India. He presented a holistic view of government and
academic institutions of India working in this domain in
terms of remote sensing of agriculture (SM and evapotranspiration),
groundwater, water bodies, floods, and droughts.
Passive microwave remote sensing theory sessions were
conducted by Jasmeet Judge and Karthikeyan Lanka [Figure
3(a) and (b)]. Jasmeet Judge's lecture dealt with the
fundamentals of radiometry, including emissivity, polarization,
and its effect on emissivity, brightness temperatures,
and sensor design. She also discussed the role
of field experiments, showing those conducted using the
tower-based L-band radiometers of the University of Florida
and the University of Michigan. Karthikeyan Lanka
discussed the basics of the radiative transfer model (RTM),
including brightness temperature contributions from soil
and vegetation, the dielectric constant of soil, RTM inversion
to retrieve SM, and an overview of past and current
passive microwave satellite sensors. The theory sessions
were augmented by a hands-on session conducted by Rajat
Bindlish [Figure 3(c)]. During the session, participants
learned how to download microwave datasets from SMAP,
handle HDF files, and conduct spatiotemporal visualizations
of the SMAP Level 3 Enhance SM product at 9 km.
These exercises were conducted using MATLAB software.
During ISMS2023, one of the improvements over the
first ISMS was the opportunity for participants to showcase
their research at a poster competition. It was conducted in
the first two days during breaks and after the end of the
regular sessions. In addition to providing their research
overview, they also interacted with the experts and obtained
feedback (Figure 4). The poster competition was a
massive success thanks to the high-quality posters and the
DECEMBER 2023 IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING MAGAZINE
participants' enthusiasm in presenting their work to lecturers.
Dara Entekhabi convened the poster competition.
All of the instructors judged the posters. The best posters
were selected in four categories: applications and applied
science, Earth system science, electromagnetic theory, and
retrievals and assessments.
SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES ON THE SECOND DAY OF THE
SECOND INTERNATIONAL SOIL MOISTURE SCHOOL
The second day started with introducing participants to in
situ measurement techniques during a minifield campaign
(Figure 5). Jeffrey Walker supervised the activity with assistance
from Binayak Mohanty. Five partially vegetated
field plots of size 12 m × 2.5 m had been prepared for the
(a)
(b)
(c)
FIGURE 3. The lectures by (a) Jasmeet Judge and (b) Karthikeyan
Lanka. (d) The hands-on session by Rajat Bindlish.
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IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - December 2023

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