H31O-01:
The NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Mission Status
Wednesday, 17 December 2014: 8:00 AM
Dara Entekhabi1, Simon H Yueh2, Peggy E O'Neill3, Jared Keith Entin4, Kent Kellogg2 and Eni G Njoku5, (1)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cambridge, MA, United States, (2)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, (3)NASA Goddard SFC, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (4)NASA HQ - SMD, Washington, DC, United States, (5)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, La Cañada Flintridge, CA, United States
Abstract:
NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, the first planned Tier 1 Earth Science Decadal Survey flight, will provide high-resolution, frequent-revisit global mapping of soil moisture and freeze/thaw state. The mission will use low-frequency microwave radar and radiometer measurements (L-band) to produce high resolution global maps of surface soil moisture. The radiometer provides greater sensitivity to soil moisture but at low resolution (40 km). The radar provides higher resolution information with lower sensitivity. The SMAP active-passive surface soil moisture product is a combination of the two measurements with 9 km resolution that is refreshed every 2 to 3 days globally. The SMAP project will also provide root-zone soil moisture and Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) information produced by merging observations with models. The status of the satellite observatory and plans for the calibration and validation of SMAP products are presented. The schedule for data release is shown and planned science and applications analyses are outlined.
