Selected works, 1977–2016
Publications & Books
The following is a selection of my scientific publications spanning journal articles, book chapters, and edited volumes. Where papers are publicly available through open-access repositories or institutional archives, links are provided. For works behind publisher paywalls, DOI links are included for institutional access.
Edited Book
Njoku, E. G. (Ed.) (2014). Encyclopedia of Remote Sensing. Springer, New York. ISBN 978-0-387-36699-9.
A comprehensive reference work covering the full breadth of remote sensing science and technology. Dr. Njoku served as editor-in-chief, overseeing contributions from leading researchers across all major subdisciplines of remote sensing.
View on Springer ↗Journal Articles — Soil Moisture and Microwave Radiometry
Njoku, E. G., and D. Entekhabi (1996). Passive microwave remote sensing of soil moisture. Journal of Hydrology, 184(1–2), 101–129.
A foundational review of the theoretical basis and practical methods for retrieving soil moisture from passive microwave satellite observations. Widely cited as a reference for the field.
DOI: 10.1016/0022-1694(95)02970-2 ↗Njoku, E. G., T. J. Jackson, V. Lakshmi, T. K. Chan, and S. V. Nghiem (2003). Soil moisture retrieval from AMSR-E. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 41(2), 215–229.
Describes the algorithm developed for retrieving soil moisture from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E) aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. This algorithm formed the basis for one of the first operational global soil moisture products from space.
DOI: 10.1109/TGRS.2002.808243 ↗Njoku, E. G., and J. A. Kong (1977). Theory for passive microwave remote sensing of near-surface soil moisture. Journal of Geophysical Research, 82(20), 3108–3118.
One of Dr. Njoku's earliest publications, establishing the theoretical framework for passive microwave sensing of soil moisture. This paper laid the groundwork for decades of subsequent research.
DOI: 10.1029/JB082i020p03108 ↗Njoku, E. G., and L. Li (1999). Retrieval of land surface parameters using passive microwave measurements at 6–18 GHz. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 37(1), 79–93.
Presents a multi-frequency retrieval algorithm for simultaneously estimating soil moisture, vegetation water content, and surface temperature from passive microwave observations.
DOI: 10.1109/36.739125 ↗Journal Articles — Instrument and Mission Design
Entekhabi, D., E. G. Njoku, P. E. O'Neill, K. H. Kellogg, W. T. Crow, W. N. Edelstein, J. K. Entin, S. D. Goodman, T. J. Jackson, J. Johnson, J. Kimball, J. R. Piepmeier, R. D. Koster, N. Martin, K. C. McDonald, M. Moghaddam, S. Moran, R. Reichle, J. C. Shi, M. W. Spencer, S. W. Thurman, L. Tsang, and J. Van Zyl (2010). The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Mission. Proceedings of the IEEE, 98(5), 704–716.
The primary mission description paper for SMAP, authored by the Science Definition Team. Describes the mission concept, measurement approach, science objectives, and expected data products.
DOI: 10.1109/JPROC.2010.2043918 ↗Njoku, E. G., W. J. Wilson, S. H. Yueh, S. J. Dinardo, F. K. Li, T. J. Jackson, V. Lakshmi, and J. Bolten (2002). Observations of soil moisture using a passive and active low-frequency microwave airborne sensor during SGP99. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 40(12), 2659–2673.
Reports results from an airborne campaign combining passive and active L-band microwave sensors, providing early validation of the combined active-passive measurement concept that would later be adopted for SMAP.
DOI: 10.1109/TGRS.2002.807008 ↗Book Chapters
Njoku, E. G. (2004). AMSR-E Data Products: Soil Moisture. In M. Owe, K. Brubaker, J. Ritchie, and A. Rango (Eds.), Remote Sensing and Hydrology 2000, IAHS Publication No. 267. IAHS Press, Wallingford, UK.
Describes the AMSR-E soil moisture data products, their derivation, and early validation results.
Njoku, E. G. (1999). Microwave Remote Sensing of Soil Moisture. In G. A. Schultz and E. T. Engman (Eds.), Remote Sensing in Hydrology and Water Management. Springer, Berlin.
A comprehensive review chapter covering the physical basis, retrieval methods, and applications of microwave remote sensing for soil moisture estimation.
This list represents a selection of key publications. A more complete bibliography, including conference papers and technical reports, will be added in a future update. Many papers are available through NASA's Technical Reports Server (NTRS) or the author's institutional page.