MoistureMap: Australian Arid Zone and Murrumbidgee Airborne Experiments

Christoph Rüdiger, Jeffrey Walker Mahdi Allahmoradi, Damian Barrett, Yann Kerr, Robert Gurney, John Le Marshall, Sandy Peischl, Ye Nan

Purpose and Objectives

• Cal/Val SMOS• Preliminary Identification of Reference Sites• Actual Cal/Val Experiments

• Model Validation • Effective Temperature• Radiative Transfer Model• Land Surface Model

Field Sites

Arid Zone

Murrumbidgee

Field Sites

Australian Arid Zone (10-14 November 2008)

Arid Zone – Wirrangula Hills

• Flight Lines and Surface Conditions

Arid Zone – Wirrangula Hills

• Airborne and Ground-based Observations• Airborne

• High Resolution (50m)• Low Resolution (1000m)• Thermal Infrared• Optical

• Ground-based• Surface and Profile Soil Moisture• Surface and Profile Temperature• Gravimetric Samples• Core Soil Samples• Surface Roughness

Field Sites

Australian Arid Zone

Arid Zone – Simpson Desert

• Flight Lines and Surface Conditions

Arid Zone – Simpson Desert

• Airborne and Ground-based Observations• Airborne

• High Resolution (50m)• Low Resolution (1000m)• Thermal Infrared• Optical

• Ground-based• Surface and Profile Soil Moisture• Surface and Profile Temperature• Gravimetric Samples• Core Soil Samples• Surface Roughness

Field Sites

Australian Arid Zone

Arid Zone – Lake Eyre

Arid Zone – Lake Eyre

• Airborne and Ground-based Observations• Airborne

• High Resolution (50m)• Low Resolution (1000m)• Thermal Infrared• Optical

• Ground-based• Surface and Profile Soil Moisture• Surface and Profile Temperature• Gravimetric Samples• Surface Roughness• Shallow Core Samples

Ground Sampling Approach

• High-resolution Ground Sampling (50m)

Ground Sampling Approach

• Soil Moisture and Temperature Profiling

Ground Sampling Approach

• Soil Coring

50cm

Ground-based Measurements

• Soil Moisture• Roaming Soil Moisture (0-5cm; Hydraprobes)• Stationary Soil Moisture (0-6 and 25cm; ThetaProbes)• Gravimetric Samples

• Soil Temperature• Stationary Soil Temperature Profile• Stationary Skin Surface Temperature

• Core Samples (up to 2-3m)• Deep Temperature• Deep Soil Moisture • Soil Salinity• Particle Size Distribution

• Surface Roughness

Field Sites

Arid Zone

Murrumbidgee

Murrumbidgee River Catchment

• Size• 80,000km2

• Location• S-E Australia

• Elevation• 200-1800m

• Vegetation• Irrigated Pastures and Cultivated Fields• Dry-land Agriculture• Forests• Alpine Regions

SMOS Cal/Val