SMEX04 false color image developed from Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) data for studying land cover features. Shades of red indicate vegetation in southern Arizona, USA on 11 June 2004. Image courtesy of NSIDC.

A series of Soil Moisture Experiments (SMEX) were conducted from 2002 to 2005 address a broad range of science and instrument questions related to soil moisture remote sensing. The objectives of the experiments were to provide data sets for studies of hydrologic processes and land/atmosphere interactions, validate spaceborne soil moisture measurements (such as from the AMSR-E instrument), and evaluate new instrument technologies.

AMSR-E validation studies linked to SMEX are designed to evaluate the accuracy of AMSR-E soil moisture data. Specific validation objectives include: assessing and refining soil moisture algorithm performance; verifying soil moisture estimation accuracy; investigating the effects of vegetation, surface temperature, topography, and soil texture on soil moisture accuracy; and determining the regions that are particularly useful for AMSR-E soil moisture measurements.

Use the navigation bar at left to access data and information about the 2002-2005 soil moisture experiments.