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Title: The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) applications activity

Author
item BROWN, M.E. - Goddard Space Flight Center
item Moran, Mary
item ESCOBAR, V. - Goddard Space Flight Center
item ENTEKHABI, D. - Massachusetts Institute Of Technology
item O'NEILL, P. - Goddard Space Flight Center
item NJOKU, E. - Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Submitted to: IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/2011
Publication Date: 7/24/2011
Citation: Brown, M., Moran, M.S., Escobar, V., Entekhabi, D., O'Neill, P., Njoku, E. 2011. The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Applications Activity. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. 2306-2309.

Interpretive Summary: NASA is planning to launch the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission to provide global measurements of soil moisture and freeze/thaw state for applications such as flood forecasting, drought monitoring, and numerical weather prediction. The SMAP mission is leading a new effort to increase and sustain the interaction between users and scientists involved in mission development. The objective of the effort is to improve the pace at which new measurements are incorporated into systems and processes used in decision making throughout the country. Even before launch, Early Adopters of SMAP data are making plans to use SMAP data for cropland soil moisture monitoring, weather predictions, food security warning, and mapping dust storms.

Technical Abstract: The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission is one of the first-tier satellite missions recommended by the U.S. National Research Council Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space. The SMAP mission 1 is under development by NASA and is scheduled for launch late in 2014. The SMAP measurements will allow global and high-resolution mapping of soil moisture and its freeze/thaw state at resolutions from 3-40 km. These measurements will have high value for a wide range of environmental applications that underpin many weather-related decisions including drought and flood guidance, agricultural productivity estimation, weather forecasting, climate predictions, and human health risk. In 2007, NASA was tasked by The National Academies to ensure that “emerging scientific knowledge is actively applied to obtain societal benefits” by broadening community participation and improving means for use of information. SMAP is one of the first missions to come out of this new charge, and its Applications Plan forms the basis for ensuring its commitment to its users. The purpose of this paper is to outline the methods and approaches of the SMAP applications activity, which is designed to increase and sustain the interaction between users and scientists involved in mission development.