SMAP Detects Soil Moisture Under Temperate Forest Canopies

Using Microwave Radar for Soil Moisture Inversion Under Soybean Canopies

The successful radar mapping of soil moisture under vegetation canopies would be a boon to agriculture, global climate change studies, water resource management and other areas. Toward this end, a series of polarimetric radar measurements of soybeans over the entire growing season of 1996 were made at Land C-band at the Long Term Ecological Research site at the Kellogg Biological Station, Hicko...

Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document SMAP L2 & L3 Radar Soil Moisture (Active) Data Products

The Soil Moisture Active Passive Experiments (SMAPEx): Towards Soil Moisture Retrieval from the SMAP Mission

21 NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission will carry the first combined spaceborne L-22 band radiometer and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) system with the objective of mapping near-23 surface soil moisture and freeze/thaw state globally every 2-3 days. SMAP will provide three soil 24 moisture products; (i) high-resolution from radar (~3km), (ii) low-resolution from radiometer 25 (~3...

Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document

Algorithm Theoretical Basis Documents (ATBDs) provide the physical and mathematical descriptions of the algorithms used in the generation of science data products. The ATBDs include a description of variance and uncertainty estimates and considerations of calibration and validation, exception control and diagnostics. Internal and external data flows are also described. The SMAP ATBDs were revie...

The effects of forest canopies and of the underlying soil moisture on microwave emission

Forests are important interfaces between soil and atmosphere as they play a significant role in the water and gas exchanges (mainly O2 and CO2). Due to their capabilities in reducing evaporation from the surfaces and to intercept rainfalls, they are able to substantially modify the moisture behaviour of underneath soils. On the other hand, the moisture conditions of soils influence the evapotra...