Ding et al. (2026) HBiM2: A multi-angle hyperspectral soil radiative transfer model for simulating the reflectance of dry and wet soils

Identification

• Journal: Remote Sensing of Environment
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-03-28
• Authors: Anxin Ding, Ziti Jiao, Jianbo Qi, Jing Guo, Peiqi Yang, Yadong Dong, Xiaoning Zhang, Guodong Zhang, Jing M. Chen
• DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2026.115381

Research Groups

• School of Geographical Sciences, School of Carbon Neutrality Future Technology, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, China
• School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, China
• Anhui Academic Society for Spatial Remote Sensing, Hefei, China
• State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
• Faculty of Geographical Science, Institute of Remote Sensing Science and Engineering, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
• Advanced Interdisciplinary Institute of Satellite Applications, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
• State Key Laboratory of Climate System Prediction and Risk Management, Nanjing, China
• Jiangsu Center for Collaborative Innovation in Geographical Information Resource Development and Application, Nanjing, China
• State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
• School of Mechatronics Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China
• Faculty of Geosciences and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China
• Department of Geography and Program in Planning, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

Short Summary

This paper develops HBiM2, a multi-angle hyperspectral soil radiative transfer model, to accurately simulate the spectral and directional reflectance of both dry and wet soils, demonstrating robust performance across diverse soil conditions and observational geometries.

Objective

• To develop a unified soil radiative transfer model framework capable of simultaneously characterizing the spectral and directional reflectance of soil under both dry and wet conditions, addressing limitations of existing models.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Point-based (laboratory-scale measurements of soil samples with varying textures and particle sizes).
• Temporal Scale: Instantaneous (simulation of reflectance under specific, varying moisture and angular conditions).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Hapke model, Brightness-Shape-Moisture (BSM) model, improved Multilayer Radiative Transfer Model of soil reflectance (MARMIT-2), Hapke-BSM (HB) model, Hapke-BSM-improved MARMIT-2 (HBiM2) model.
• Data sources: Various datasets covering 10 soil textures, 14 particle sizes, multiple moisture levels, and a wide range of observational geometries over the 0.4–2.4 µm spectral range, used for model validation.

Main Results

• The developed Hapke-BSM (HB) model for dry soils achieved high accuracy (R² > 0.98, RMSE < 0.02) across diverse conditions.
• The proposed HBiM2 model for wet soils demonstrated consistently robust performance under varying moisture and angular conditions (R² > 0.95, RMSE < 0.02).
• Both models showed strong agreement between simulated and measured reflectance under controlled conditions, validating the HBiM2 framework.

Contributions

• Development of a unified soil radiative transfer model (HBiM2) that explicitly accounts for both spectral and directional reflectance simultaneously for both dry and wet soils.
• Integration of existing models (Hapke, BSM, MARMIT-2) into a comprehensive framework to overcome their individual limitations in jointly simulating spectral-directional behavior.
• Validation of the model across a wide range of soil textures, particle sizes, moisture levels, and observational geometries, demonstrating its broad applicability.

Funding

• Not specified in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Ding2026HBiM2,
  author = {Ding, Anxin and Jiao, Ziti and Qi, Jianbo and Guo, Jing and Yang, Peiqi and Dong, Yadong and Zhang, Xiaoning and Zhang, Guodong and Chen, Jing M.},
  title = {HBiM2: A multi-angle hyperspectral soil radiative transfer model for simulating the reflectance of dry and wet soils},
  journal = {Remote Sensing of Environment},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.rse.2026.115381},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2026.115381}
}