Monitoring drought affected crop yields based on ERS-scatterometer data : exploration of possibilities to integrate ERS-scatterometer derived soil moisture into the CGMS crop model for a Russian-Ukrainian study area

In this study the possibilities of integrating ERS scatterometer-derived soil moisture into CGMS are explored. This remote sensed soil moisture is used to calculate drought stress in grains of barley for a Russian-Ukrainian study area. The results arecompared with drought stress based on the rainfall-driven water balance and with regional yields statistics of barley. The use of ERS scatterometer in CGMS seems promising, especially when additional input data such as sowing dates and crop parameters are improved and conversions of ERS scatterometer data into soil moisture are more specified for different soils and seasonal variations.