ARS | Publication request: EXTENDED VALIDATION OF AMSR-E SOIL MOISTURE PRODUCTS

Submitted to: American Geophysical Union
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: October 18, 2001
Publication Date: December 10, 2001
Citation: JACKSON, T.J., BOSCH, D.D., GOODRICH, D.C., SEYFRIED, M.S., STARKS, P.J., LAKSHMI, V. EXTENDED VALIDATION OF AMSR-E SOIL MOISTURE PRODUCTS. EOS TRANS OF THE AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION. 2001. V. 82(27), P. F449.

Technical Abstract: The EOS Aqua Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) soil moisture product will be the first attempt at routinely mapping surface soil moisture. Soil moisture products from the AMSR-E have to be validated because the retrieval algorithms utilize formulations, parameters and ancillary data that have not been thoroughly developed and verified. Validation at the scale of the AMSR-E footprint (~50 km) will be difficult The current validation plan adequately addresses some aspects through episodic field campaigns. Longer-term observations in diverse environments are needed to understand variations in the soil moisture-brightness temperature relationships that arise from seasonal variations of vegetation and validate the retrieval for a range of conditions. Addressing these issues with existing networks is not adequate since the spatial density of measurements these networks provide cannot be used to estimate the mean and dvariance of the AMSR footprint retrieval, which is required for validation In order to address this problem, we are developing and implementing watershed scale soil moisture observation programs at USDA ARS watersheds in four diverse climate and physiographic regions (Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, and Oklahoma). Existing instrumentation in these watersheds will be augmented to provide continuous and spatially distributed surface soil moisture measurements. Results of the project will contribute to quantifying the accuracy of the soil moisture product over the entire year. A robust validation will lead to increased reliability, acceptance and use of the soil moisture data in land surface hydrology and climate studies.