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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #412657
Research Project: From Field to Watershed: Enhancing Water Quality and Management in Agroecosystems through Remote Sensing, Ground Measurements, and Integrative Modeling

Location: Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory

Title: Monitoring field scale soil moisture with sUAS mounted L-band radiometer

Author
item Cosh, Michael
item KIM, K - University Of Virginia
item Russ, Andrew - Andy
item FANG, BIN - University Of Virginia
item ZHANG, R - University Of Virginia
item ZHU, Z - University Of Virginia
item LAKSHMI, V - University Of Virginia

Submitted to: Soil and Water Conservation Society International Annual Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/1/2024
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Field scale soil moisture estimates are useful for precision agriculture, modeling, and other climate smart decision support systems. Both monitoring via in situ or proximal sensors can be time consuming and expensive. Drone based systems are growing in popularity and with the reduction in size of many technologies, it is feasible to look forward to commercially available drone systems that can automatically monitor large scale soil moisture distributions in agriculture. One of these early systems was tested over the Lower Chesapeake Bay Long Term Agroecosystem Research Site. This system was used to track a soil moisture drydown in the spring of 2023, to establish the accuracy and viability of the platform. Discussion of the limitations and advantages of the system will also be presented including potential improvements for future platforms.