The Mid-Term Review (MTR) meeting of SARWATER is approaching. The Forschungszentrum Jülich (Germany) will host the meeting on September, 29-30 2026. The SARWATER project is about to complete its first year of tasks.
In this paper, Sofia Rossi, a Phd student within SARWATER, has recently published a paper on irrigation detection over the Riaza irrigation district (Spain). The study shows that high-resolution (~100 m) soil moisture maps from Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 can detect field-scale irrigation early in the growing season, although accuracy depends on satellite timing, crop stage, and the delay between irrigation and observation. Results also indicate a strong relationship between soil moisture and irrigation depth, supporting the estimation of applied water volumes. Additionally, combining C-band and L-band SAR data can enhance irrigation monitoring over the entire crop cycle.
We are pleased to announce that the first Progress Review Meeting of the SarWater project was held in Bari (Italy) on 26 March 2026.
A new review article, provided by the Jülich team, gives a comprehensive look at the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence in monitoring one of the planet's most critical resources: soil moisture. Published in the International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, the paper, titled "AI in Soil Moisture Remote Sensing," explores how AI is revolutionizing our ability to understand and manage a key component of the global water cycle.
Today, the very first version of the SARWater website has been published for general consumption, including some pending news and general information about the project. RSS feeding is available for subscriptions, with also by-topic sub-sectioning.
We are proud to announce the first publication funding from the European Space Agency for the SARWATER project! The paper highlights the remarkable progress in soil moisture retrieval achieved through the Sentinel-1 mission and explores exciting prospects for future advancements.
SARWater was presented during the Remote sensing of high resolution soil moisture and irrigation applications special session of the XII AIT International Conference, on 12-13-14 November, in Milan.
We are excited to announce that the SAR retrieval of soil and vegetation water content (SARWATER)
project kicked off today, the 23rd of September 2025 at ESA ESRIN.
SARWATER project responds to the call ESA CfP/5-50086/24/I-DT-bgh,
Sentinel User Preparation (SUP) in SAR – Fundamental Scientific Developments
(SUPSAR) and will last two years.