Remotely sensed surface soil water content was used to estimate near-surface soil hydraulic properties based on 2-day drainage data in the Little Washita River Experimental Watershed in south central Oklahoma. Characterization of hydraulic conductivity based on 2-days drainage in the field is related to the concept of field capacity and studies involving steady-state infiltration and in-situ soil water characteristics. Because of the large number of samples required to characterize an extensive area such as a field or watershed, estimates of hydraulic properties from remotely sensed surface soil moisture 2-day drainage data would be of considerable benefit to large scale applications. Multi-temporal airborne microwave data were collected using the Electronically Scanned Thinned Array Radiometer (ESTAR) during the Southern Great Plains 1997 Hydrology Experiment (SGP97). The ESTAR instrument is a synthetic aperture, passive microwave radiometer and to date, is the most efficient surface soil moisture mapping device available. Analysis of the microwave data show that under sufficient wetting conditions, near- surface soil hydraulic characteristics and surface soil drainage patterns may be estimated from remotely sensed surface soil moisture observations.
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