| Large Field Studies |
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Washita '92 Experiment Washita '94 Experiment SGP97: Southern Great Plains '97 Experiment SGP99: Southern Great Plains '99 Experiment
Remotely sensed hydrologic data and meteorological data have been investigated at the Grazinglands Research Lab (GRL), particularly in conjunction with intensive field campaigns such as WASHITA 92, WASHITA 94 and SGP97 which are cooperative experiments conducted by USDA, National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA), and other agencies and universities. Low and medium altitude aircraft flights over the Little Washita River Watershed (LWRW) and over the Grazinglands Research Lab were coordinated with ground monitoring and, on two occasions, with Space Shuttle Endeavor experiments. The research emphasis of those experiments focused on the estimation of soil moisture and evaporative fluxes (Jackson and Schiebe, 1993; Starks and Humes, 1996) using technology that may likely be installed on future natural resources satellites.
The LWRW is also a study site for the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment, an international cooperative effort to model global water and energy fluxes and improve predictions of regional impacts of climate change. Research on the LWRW includes the ARS Global Change, Water Resources and Agricultural program. This study is designed to address problems of national concern that relate to the exchange of water and energy to, within, and from managed agricultural ecosystems; how these processes are affected by changes in land cover and land use; the effect of scale on hydrologic response; and the interactions of climate, land surface hydrology and agriculture. Research from this program is expected to provide better linkages between the general circulation models, terrestrial climate, hydrologic processes and agricultural activities.
