In-situ and triple collocation-based evaluations of Tianmu-1 global soil moisture products

Global Navigation Satellite System-Reflectometry (GNSS-R), as a favorable technology to provide large-scale soil moisture estimates, contributes to studies in climatology, hydrology, and agriculture. The Tianmu-1 Meteorological Mission (TM-1), currently runs 23 satellites in orbit (including one experimental satellite) with multi-GNSS compatibility, achieve shorter revisit periods and higher data acquisition frequencies compared with single-satellite missions. The hourly TM-1 surface soil moisture (SSM) products, offer affluent information for global soil moisture monitoring. This study provides the first comprehensive characterization and performance evaluation of TM-1 SSM products based on in-situ measurements and products of Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP), European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative (ESA CCI), and Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS). The TM-1 SSM demonstrates expected spatiotemporal patterns at both regional and global scales. The in-situ validation results reveal its landcover-dependent accuracy, with superior performance over bare soils (unbiased Root Mean Square Error, ubRMSE of about 0.02 m³/m³) compared to vegetated regions (ubRMSE of around 0.07 m³/m³). Furthermore, Extended Triple Collocation (ETC) assessments using (1) TM-1, active, and ground observations and (2) TM-1, model, and ground observations triplets are conducted. The ETC-derived results present that TM-1 SSM achieve global correlation coefficient of 0.75 and random error standard deviation of 0.035 m³/m³. Overall, this study demonstrates the reliable accuracy of TM-1 SSM product, and provides valuable insights for its refinement and potential applications.