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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 #294399
Title: U.S National cropland soil moisture monitoring using SMAP

Author
item YANG, ZHENGWEI - National Agricultural Statistical Service (NASS, USDA)
item MUELLER, RICK - National Agricultural Statistical Service (NASS, USDA)
item Crow, Wade

Submitted to: International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/15/2013
Publication Date: 7/21/2013
Citation: Yang, Z., Mueller, R., Crow, W.T. 2013. U.S National cropland soil moisture monitoring using SMAP [abstract]. International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, July 21-26, 2013, Melbourne, Australia. 2013 CDROM.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Crop condition information is critical for public and private sector decision making that concerns agricultural policy, food production, food security, and food commodity prices. Crop conditions change quickly due to various growing condition events, such as temperature extremes, soil moisture deficits, fertilization application, and disease outbreak. Therefore, timely, frequent and high-resolution observations are required throughout the growing season to monitor crop condition and progress. The National Agriculture Statistics Services (NASS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) publishes a weekly crop progress and condition report which includes an analysis of soil moisture conditions. NASS currently monitors crop soil moisture conditions via weekly field observations from counties in 45 states. State-level estimates are based on subjective field observations and not objective measurements. The surveyed topsoil and subsoil moisture are published weekly during the growing season. The reports are useful in reflecting major crop events such as large-scale flooding, drought and anomalously cold spring temperature which impact crop acreage and yield. However, the soil moisture reports are imprecise, inconsistent and contain geographical gaps. The survey operation is a burden to farmers and NASS field officers. Its operational cost is very expensive. To improve NASS cropland soil moisture monitoring, this paper proposes to use the remotely-sensed surface soil moisture data for US national cropland soil moisture monitoring. Specifically, the remote sensing results from NASA Soil Moisture Active and Passive (SMAP) mission is proposed to be adapted. This paper will (1) study at the pre-launch stage the feasibility of using SMAP mission results to support US national crop condition monitoring and other NASS operational data needs, such as crop yield modeling needs, and (2) explore a technical route to building a remote sensing-based soil moisture monitoring system prototype based on SMAP data products.