ESTAR measurements during the Southern Great Plains experiment (SGP99)

During the Southern Great Plains experiment, the synthetic aperture radiometer, ESTAR, mapped L-band brightness temperature over a swath about 50 km wide and about 300 km long extending west from Oklahoma City to El Reno and north from the Little Washita River watershed to the Kansas border. ESTAR flew on the NASA P-3B Orion aircraft at an altitude of 7.6 km and maps were made on 7 days between July 8-20, 1999. The brightness temperature maps reflect the patterns of soil moisture expected from rainfall and are consistent with values of soil moisture observed at the research sites within the SGP99 study area and with previous measurements in this area. The data add to the resources for hydrologic modeling in this area and are further validation of the technology represented by ESTAR as a potential path to a future mission to map soil moisture globally from space. ESTAR MEASUREMENTS DURING THE SOUTHERN GREAT PLAINS EXPERIMENT (SGP99) D.M. Le Vine Goddard Space FlightCenter, Microwave Sensors Branch, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 Phone: 301-614-5640; FAX:301-614-5558; email:[email protected] T.J.Jackson USDAARSHydrology andRemote Sensing Lab,Bcltsville, Maryland 20705 Phone: 30l-5(14-8511; FAX:301-504-8931; email:[email protected] C.T. Swift Department ofElectrical Engi ncering, University of Massachusetts. Amherst. MA01003 Phone: 4t3-545-2136; FAX: 413-545-4652; email: [email protected] M. Haken, S.W. Bidwell Goddard Space Flight Center, Microwave Sensors Branch, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 Phone: 301-614-5640; FAX: 301-614-5558; email: [email protected]