H51I-1508
Automated Quality Control of in Situ Soil Moisture from the North American Soil Moisture Database Using NLDAS-2 Products
Friday, 18 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Youlong Xia, I. M. System Group at Environmental Modeling Center, National Centers for Environmental Prediction, College Park, MD, United States, Trent Ford, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Carbondale, IL, United States, Yihua Wu, NOAA/NWS/NCEP, College Park, MD, United States, Steven M Quiring, Texas A & M University College Station, College Station, TX, United States and Michael B Ek, NOAA NWS NCEP/EMC, College Park, MD, United States
Abstract:
The North American Soil Moisture Database (NASMD) was initiated in 2011 to provide support for developing climate forecasting tools, calibrating land surface models and validating satellite-derived soil moisture algorithms. The NASMD has collected data from over 30 soil moisture observation networks providing millions of in situ soil moisture observations in all 50 states as well as Canada and Mexico. It is recognized that the quality of measured soil moisture in NASMD is highly variable due to the diversity of climatological conditions, land cover, soil texture, and topographies of the stations and differences in measurement devices (e.g., sensors) and installation. It is also recognized that error, inaccuracy and imprecision in the data set can have significant impacts on practical operations and scientific studies. Therefore, developing an appropriate quality control procedure is essential to ensure the data is of the best quality. In this study, an automated quality control approach is developed using the North American Land Data Assimilation System phase 2 (NLDAS-2) Noah soil porosity, soil temperature, and fraction of liquid and total soil moisture to flag erroneous and/or spurious measurements. Overall results show that this approach is able to flag unreasonable values when the soil is partially frozen. A validation example using NLDAS-2 multiple model soil moisture products at the 20 cm soil layer showed that the quality control procedure had a significant positive impact in Alabama, North Carolina, and West Texas. It had a greater impact in colder regions, particularly during spring and autumn. Over 433 NASMD stations have been quality controlled using the methodology proposed in this study, and the algorithm will be implemented to control data quality from the other ~1,200 NASMD stations in the near future.
