SMAP Validation Experiment 2019–2022 (SMAPVEX19–22): Field Campaign to Improve Soil Moisture and Vegetation Optical Depth Retrievals in Temperate Forests
Satellite-based retrieval of forest soil moisture (SM) and vegetation optical depth (VOD) are two long-standing unresolved issues hindering advances in hydrology, ecology, and Earth system science. A key obstacle is the lack of adequate reference data in forested regions. NASA's Soil Moisture A...
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IEEE
2025-01-01
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| Series: | IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10937310/ |
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| author | Andreas Colliander Michael H. Cosh Laura Bourgeau-Chavez Victoria R. Kelly Simon Kraatz Paul Siqueira Victoria A. Walker Xingjian Chen Alexandre Roy Tarendra Lakhankar Kyle C. McDonald Nicholas Steiner Mehmet Kurum Seung-bum Kim Aaron Berg Xiaolan Xu Sidharth Misra Mehmet Ogut Cristina Vittucci John S. Kimball Dara Entekhabi Simon H. Yueh |
| author_facet | Andreas Colliander Michael H. Cosh Laura Bourgeau-Chavez Victoria R. Kelly Simon Kraatz Paul Siqueira Victoria A. Walker Xingjian Chen Alexandre Roy Tarendra Lakhankar Kyle C. McDonald Nicholas Steiner Mehmet Kurum Seung-bum Kim Aaron Berg Xiaolan Xu Sidharth Misra Mehmet Ogut Cristina Vittucci John S. Kimball Dara Entekhabi Simon H. Yueh |
| author_sort | Andreas Colliander |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Satellite-based retrieval of forest soil moisture (SM) and vegetation optical depth (VOD) are two long-standing unresolved issues hindering advances in hydrology, ecology, and Earth system science. A key obstacle is the lack of adequate reference data in forested regions. NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, with its partners, conducted the SMAP Validation Experiment 2019–2022 (SMAPVEX19–22) to improve the SMAP SM and VOD retrievals in temperate forests of the northeastern USA. The scope and scale of the campaign exceeded anything done thus far to develop forest satellite-based SM and VOD retrieval algorithms. The field campaign measured SM, surface conditions, and vegetation properties, with results demonstrating the value of tree sensors with SM measurements and destructive sampling of the vegetation water content of branches and leaves to capture the water distribution in soil and trees. Using low-cost zenith-pointing cameras proved effective in tracking vegetation phenology, aiding the interpretation of brightness temperature (TB). Airborne and mobile terrestrial laser scanning measurements captured the three-dimensional forest structure necessary for microwave measurement interpretation. Challenges included characterizing SM in organic forest soils and determining volumetric SM due to spatially variable soil bulk density. Comparisons of the field measurements with SMAP data revealed its ability to retrieve the soil permittivity (correlation of 0.68 and 0.75 for the two experiment sites) alongside VOD, including the frozen conditions. The findings indicated that L-band scattering albedo is temporally variable, and L-band TB is sensitive to deciduous forest leaves, influencing the development of SM and VOD retrieval algorithms. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-161a77842f814bd2a83ee9b82eb2d684 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1939-1404 2151-1535 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
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| series | IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj-art-161a77842f814bd2a83ee9b82eb2d6842025-08-20T01:48:14ZengIEEEIEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing1939-14042151-15352025-01-0118107491077110.1109/JSTARS.2025.355308510937310SMAP Validation Experiment 2019–2022 (SMAPVEX19–22): Field Campaign to Improve Soil Moisture and Vegetation Optical Depth Retrievals in Temperate ForestsAndreas Colliander0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4093-8119Michael H. Cosh1Laura Bourgeau-Chavez2Victoria R. Kelly3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3418-9211Simon Kraatz4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7955-920XPaul Siqueira5https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5781-8282Victoria A. Walker6https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3518-0040Xingjian Chen7Alexandre Roy8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1472-3619Tarendra Lakhankar9Kyle C. McDonald10Nicholas Steiner11https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5943-8400Mehmet Kurum12https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5750-9014Seung-bum Kim13https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1865-5617Aaron Berg14https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8438-5662Xiaolan Xu15https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4321-7931Sidharth Misra16https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1738-6635Mehmet Ogut17https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7142-6899Cristina Vittucci18https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6210-4647John S. Kimball19Dara Entekhabi20https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8362-4761Simon H. Yueh21https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7061-5295Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USAUSDA ARS Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory, Beltsville, MD, USAMichigan Tech Research Institute, Ann Arbor, MI, USACary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY, USAUSDA ARS Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory, Beltsville, MD, USAUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USAUSDA ARS Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory, Beltsville, MD, USAUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USAUniversity of Quebec at Trois-Rivieres, Trois-Rivières, QC, CanadaThe City College of New York, New York, NY, USAThe City College of New York, New York, NY, USAThe City College of New York, New York, NY, USAUniversity of Georgia, Athens, GA, USAJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USAUniversity of Guelph, Guelph, ON, CanadaJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USAJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USAJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USATor Vergata University of Rome, Roma, ItalyUniversity of Montana, Missoula, MT, USAMassachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USAJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USASatellite-based retrieval of forest soil moisture (SM) and vegetation optical depth (VOD) are two long-standing unresolved issues hindering advances in hydrology, ecology, and Earth system science. A key obstacle is the lack of adequate reference data in forested regions. NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, with its partners, conducted the SMAP Validation Experiment 2019–2022 (SMAPVEX19–22) to improve the SMAP SM and VOD retrievals in temperate forests of the northeastern USA. The scope and scale of the campaign exceeded anything done thus far to develop forest satellite-based SM and VOD retrieval algorithms. The field campaign measured SM, surface conditions, and vegetation properties, with results demonstrating the value of tree sensors with SM measurements and destructive sampling of the vegetation water content of branches and leaves to capture the water distribution in soil and trees. Using low-cost zenith-pointing cameras proved effective in tracking vegetation phenology, aiding the interpretation of brightness temperature (TB). Airborne and mobile terrestrial laser scanning measurements captured the three-dimensional forest structure necessary for microwave measurement interpretation. Challenges included characterizing SM in organic forest soils and determining volumetric SM due to spatially variable soil bulk density. Comparisons of the field measurements with SMAP data revealed its ability to retrieve the soil permittivity (correlation of 0.68 and 0.75 for the two experiment sites) alongside VOD, including the frozen conditions. The findings indicated that L-band scattering albedo is temporally variable, and L-band TB is sensitive to deciduous forest leaves, influencing the development of SM and VOD retrieval algorithms.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10937310/Soil moisturevegetationremote sensingpassive microwave remote sensinglaser radar |
| spellingShingle | Andreas Colliander Michael H. Cosh Laura Bourgeau-Chavez Victoria R. Kelly Simon Kraatz Paul Siqueira Victoria A. Walker Xingjian Chen Alexandre Roy Tarendra Lakhankar Kyle C. McDonald Nicholas Steiner Mehmet Kurum Seung-bum Kim Aaron Berg Xiaolan Xu Sidharth Misra Mehmet Ogut Cristina Vittucci John S. Kimball Dara Entekhabi Simon H. Yueh SMAP Validation Experiment 2019–2022 (SMAPVEX19–22): Field Campaign to Improve Soil Moisture and Vegetation Optical Depth Retrievals in Temperate Forests IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing Soil moisture vegetation remote sensing passive microwave remote sensing laser radar |
| title | SMAP Validation Experiment 2019–2022 (SMAPVEX19–22): Field Campaign to Improve Soil Moisture and Vegetation Optical Depth Retrievals in Temperate Forests |
| title_full | SMAP Validation Experiment 2019–2022 (SMAPVEX19–22): Field Campaign to Improve Soil Moisture and Vegetation Optical Depth Retrievals in Temperate Forests |
| title_fullStr | SMAP Validation Experiment 2019–2022 (SMAPVEX19–22): Field Campaign to Improve Soil Moisture and Vegetation Optical Depth Retrievals in Temperate Forests |
| title_full_unstemmed | SMAP Validation Experiment 2019–2022 (SMAPVEX19–22): Field Campaign to Improve Soil Moisture and Vegetation Optical Depth Retrievals in Temperate Forests |
| title_short | SMAP Validation Experiment 2019–2022 (SMAPVEX19–22): Field Campaign to Improve Soil Moisture and Vegetation Optical Depth Retrievals in Temperate Forests |
| title_sort | smap validation experiment 2019 x2013 2022 smapvex19 x2013 22 field campaign to improve soil moisture and vegetation optical depth retrievals in temperate forests |
| topic | Soil moisture vegetation remote sensing passive microwave remote sensing laser radar |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10937310/ |
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