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Title: REMOTE SENSING FIELD EXPERIMENTS FOR EVALUATING SOIL MOISTURE RETRIEVAL ALGORITHMS AND MODELING LAND-ATMOSPHERE DYNAMICS IN CENTRAL IOWA

Author
item Kustas, William - Bill
item Jackson, Thomas
item Prueger, John
item Hatfield, Jerry
item ANDERSON, M - UNIV OF WISCONSIN

Submitted to: Trans American Geophysical Union
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/1/2003
Publication Date: 11/11/2003
Citation: Kustas, W.P., Jackson, T.J., Prueger, J.L., Anderson, M.C. 2003. Remote sensing field experiments evaluating soil moisture retrieval algorithms and modeling land-atmosphere dynamics in central Iowa. EOS Transactions of American Geophsical Union. 84(45):485-493.

Interpretive Summary: The 2002 Soil Moisture Experiment (SMEX02) and the Soil Moisture Atmosphere Coupling Experiment (SMACEX) were both conducted during June and July, 2002 near Ames, Iowa. The primary objectives of SMEX02 are to validate microwave soil moisture retrieval algorithms for existing and new prototype microwave sensor systems under rapidly changing crop biomass conditions, and explore the effects on moisture retrievals from NASA microwave satellites. SMACEX is a combined measurement and modeling program that will address one of NASA's core missions of seeking to rigorously bridge between remotely sensed data and operational forecast models, including advances in operational assimilation schemes. The field observations will support the analysis of heterogeneities ranging from within field scale to the regional scales that are commensurate with prediction models of weather and climate. The unique in-situ and aircraft measurements of atmospheric and soil variables and fluxes provided by this data set will be used both to validate surface states and fluxes diagnosed using remote sensing methods at various scales. The experimental approach is thus also an "scaling" endeavor, investigating how remote sensing data at different horizontal and temporal scales may be utilized for both diagnosis and prediction of the surface states and energy exchanges from field to regional scales.

Technical Abstract: The 2002 Soil Moisture Experiment (SMEX02) and the Soil Moisture Atmosphere Coupling Experiment (SMACEX) were both conducted during June and July, 2002 near Ames, Iowa. The primary objectives of SMEX02 are to validate microwave soil moisture retrieval algorithms for existing and new prototype microwave sensor systems under rapidly changing crop biomass conditions, and explore the effects on the brightness temperatures and soil moisture retrievals from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometers (AMSR) on NASA Aqua and ADEOS-II. SMACEX is a combined measurement and modeling program that will address one of NASA's core missions of seeking to rigorously bridge between remotely sensed data and operational forecast models, including advances in operational assimilation schemes. The field observations will support the analysis of heterogeneities ranging from within field or patch scale (~100 m) to the regional scales that are commensurate with prediction models of weather and climate (10-100 km). The unique in-situ and aircraft measurements of atmospheric and soil variables and fluxes provided by this data set will be used both to validate surface states and fluxes diagnosed using remote sensing methods at various scales. The experimental approach is thus also an "scaling" endeavor, investigating how remote sensing data at different horizontal and temporal scales may be utilized for both diagnosis and prediction of the surface states and energy exchanges from patch to regional scales.