Validation of the ASCAT Soil Water Index using in situ data from the International Soil Moisture Network

The average of the significant Pearson correlation coefficients was 0.54 while being greater than 0.5 for 64.4% of all time series. It was found that the characteristic time length showing the highest correlation increases with in situ observation depth, thus confirming the SWI model assumptions. Relationships of the correlation coefficients with topographic complexity, water fraction, in situ observation depth, and soil moisture noise were found.