HR: 09:15h
AN: H21C-06    [PDF]
TI: Use of TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) to characterize soil moisture for the Little River Watershed
AU: * Cashion, J E
EM: jec0913@aol.com
AF: University of South Carolina, 701 Sumter Street, Department of Geological Sciences, Columbia, SC 29208 United States
AU: Lakshmi, V
EM: venkat-lakshmi@sc.edu
AF: University of South Carolina, 701 Sumter Street, Department of Geological Sciences, Columbia, SC 29208 United States
AU: Bosch, D
EM: dbosch@tifton.usda.gov
AF: US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Southeast Watershed Research Laboratory P.O. Box 946, Tifton, GA 31793 United States
AB: Soil moisture plays a critical role in many hydrological processes including infiltration, evaporation, and runoff. Additionally, soil moisture has a direct effect on weather patterns. Satellite based passive microwave sensors offer an effective way to observe soil moisture data over vast areas, and there are currently several satellite systems that detect soil moisture. Long-term in situ (field) measurements of soil moisture are collected in the Little River Watershed (LRWS) located in Tifton, Georgia and compared with the remotely sensed data collected over the watershed. The LRWS has been selected by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to represent the south eastern costal plains region of North America. The LRWS is composed primarily of sandy soils and has a flat topography with meandering streams. The in-situ measurements were collected by stationary soil moisture probes attached to rain gage stations throughout the LRWS for the period 2000-2002. The remotely sensed data was acquired by two satellites viz. - the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission Microwave Imager (TMI) for soil moisture and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) for vegetation. The TMI is equipped with a passive vertically and horizontally polarized 10.65GHz sensor that is capable of detecting soil moisture. Soil moisture collected in the field is related to the TMI brightness temperatures. However, vegetation has a strong affect on the 10.65GHz brightness temperature. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data, provided by the (MODIS), are used to evaluate the effect of vegetation on soil microwave emission.
DE: 1833 Hydroclimatology
DE: 1836 Hydrologic budget (1655)
DE: 1848 Networks
DE: 1866 Soil moisture
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting