Assessing Hydrological Changes in Wetland Areas of the Russian Arctic, Subarctic, and Northern Taiga Based on Microwave Remote Sensing Data

Specific emissivity features of swamps and wetlands in Western Siberia were studied for changing seasonal conditions with the use of daily data from satellite microwave sounding. The research technique involved the analysis of the brightness temperatures of the underlying surface at the test sites. Variations in the seasonal dynamics of the brightness temperatures were mainly caused by different rates of seasonal freezing of the upper waterlogged layer of the underlying surface and the dielectric characteristics of the water-containing natural media (water body, soil, and vegetation). We analyzed the long-term trends in the seasonal and annual dynamics of the brightness temperatures of the underlying surface and estimated the hydrological changes in the Arctic and Subarctic. The findings open new possibilities for using satellite data in the microwave range to study natural seasonal dynamic processes and to predict hazardous hydrological phenomena.