While the effect of soil temperature and moisture on soil CO2 efflux (Ec) has been widely investigated, the relationship between Ec and soil carbon (C), root, and stand parameters has not been comprehensively examined or quantified across extensive spatial and temporal scales. We measured Ec in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) stands located on the South Carolina Coastal Plain across sites, seaso...

This paper examines the effects of soil moisture initialization in a coupled air quality–meteorological model on temperature profiles, wind speeds, and pollutant concentrations. Three simulations, each with different initial soil moisture fields, were run. In the baseline simulation, predicted temperatures, wind speeds, and gas/aerosol pollutant concentrations accurately matched observations. I...

Thermal remote sensing of soil moisture in vineyards is a challenge. The grass-covered soil, in addition to a standing grape canopy, create complex patterns of heating and cooling and increase the surface temperature variability between vine rows. In this study, we evaluate the strength of relationships between soil moisture, mechanical resistance and thermal inertia calculated from the drop of...

The world’s first satellite dedicated to soil moisture measurement was launched by the European Space Agency on 2nd November 2009. One objective of this Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission is to obtain global near-surface (top ~5 cm) soil moisture every 2 to 3 days with a target accuracy of 0.04 m/m. To achieve this goal, the Microwave Imaging Radiometer with Aperture Synthesis (MIR...

The scope of this study is to establish the parameters of the L-band (1.4 GHz) Microwave Emission of the Biosphere model (L-MEB) for grass covers, and to assess surface soil moisture retrievals in areas covered by grass. L-MEB parameters are key ancillary information for the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity mission (SMOS) retrieval algorithm that produces estimates of the surface soil moisture ...

Urbanization-associated land use and land cover (LULC) changes lead to modifications of surface microclimatic and hydrological conditions, including the formation of urban heat islands and changes in surface runoff pattern. The goal of the paper is to investigate the changes of biophysical variables due to urbanization induced LULC changes in Indianapolis, USA, from 2001 to 2006. The biophysica...

Remote sensing data in the thermal infra red (TIR) part of the spectrum provides indirect estimates of water stress – defined as a function of the ratio between actual and potential evaporation rates – at the earth surface. During the first stage of evaporation (‘‘energy limited’’ evaporation), this ratio is close to one. During the second stage of evaporation (‘‘soil controlled’’ evaporation) ...

In this study, the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Land Surface Temperature (LST) Environmental Data Record (EDR) was evaluated against snow surface (T-skin) and near-surface air temperature (T-air) ground observations recorded at the Cooperative Remote Sensing Science and Technology Center—Snow Analysis and Field Experiment (CREST-SAFE), located in Caribou, ME, USA during the ...

The present study examines the effects of historic climate variability on cold-season processes, including soil temperature, frost depth, and the number of frost days and freeze–thaw cycles. Considering the importance of spatial and temporal variability in cold-season processes, the study was conducted in the midwestern United States using both observations and model simulations. Model simulati...