Abstract
Surface soil moisture content is highly variable in both space and time. While remote sensing provides an effective methodology for mapping surface moisture content over large areas, it averages within‐pixel variability thereby masking the underlying heterogeneity observed at the land surface. This variability must be better understood in order to rigorously evaluate sensor performance and to enhance the utility of the larger‐scale remotely sensed averages by quantifying the underlying variability that remote sensing cannot record explicitly. In support of the Southern Great Plains 1997 (SGP97) Hydrology Experiment (a surface soil moisture mapping mission conducted between June 18 and July 17, 1997, in central Oklahoma) an investigation was conducted to characterize soil moisture variability within remote sensing footprints (approximately 0.64 km2) with more certainty than would be afforded with conventional gravimetric moisture content sampling. Nearly every day during the experiment period, portable impedance probes were used to intensively monitor volumetric moisture content in the 0‐ to 6‐cm surface soil layer at six footprint‐sized fields scattered over the SGP97 study area. A minimum of 49 daily moisture content measurements were made on most fields. Higher‐resolution grid and transect data were also collected periodically. In total, more than 11,000 impedance probe measurements of volumetric moisture content were made at the six sites by over 35 SGP97 participants. The wide spatial distribution of the sites, combined with the intensive, near‐daily monitoring, provided a unique opportunity (relative to previous smaller‐scale and shorter‐duration soil moisture studies) to characterize variations in surface moisture content over a range of wetness conditions. In this paper the range and temporal dynamics of the variability in moisture content within each of the six fields are described, as are general relationships between the variability and footprint‐mean moisture content. Results indicate that distinct differences in mean moisture content between the six sites are consistent with variations in soil type, vegetation cover, and rainfall gradients. Within fields the standard deviation, coefficient of variation, skewness, and kurtosis increased with decreasing moisture content; the distribution of surface moisture content evolved from negatively skewed/nonnormal under very wet conditions, to normal in the midrange of mean moisture content, to positively skewed/nonnormal under dry conditions; and agricultural practices of row tilling and terracing were shown to exert a major control on observed moisture content variations. Results presented here can be utilized to better evaluate sensor performance, to extrapolate estimates of subgrid‐scale variations in moisture content across the entire SGP97 region, and in the parameterization of soil moisture dynamics in hydrological and land surface models.
Highlights
Background,previousfield investigationsof surfacesoil moisturevariabilityare reviewed.Studiesincludedare those which have focused on moisture content variations in the near
CEffectivecovertypefor mostof the experimentwasrow-tilledbare soilfor LW21 and ER13 andwas wheat stubble for CF04
From these 49 sites, three fields were selected within the thedurationof the experiment)c, omparisondsoneat eachsite
Summary
A numberof importantconstraintsrequiredconsideration in the designof the experimentplan for this research.Since this studywas a complementaryinvestigationwithin SGP97, many of theseconstraintswere dictatedby the larger experi-. From these 49 sites, three fields were selected within the thedurationof the experiment)c, omparisondsoneat eachsite. He correctionsignalwastransmitted surement of surface soil moisture content Given these re- by radio beaconfrom a referencestation in Sallisaw,Okla-. Standard Deviation and Coefficient of Variation andbottomsof tilled soilrows(LW21) or terracedhillslopes of Moisture Content (LW13)), and on higher-resolutiognrids(ER05, ER13, and Figure 4 and Table 2 show that observedstandard. CF04).Table liststhe additionaldatacollectedat eachof the deviations of moisture content within each field varied between six sites. Six fieldsduringthe courseof the experiment.All data are The relationshipbetweenrelativevariability,asmeasuredby availablethroughthe NASA GoddardDistributedActive Ar- the coefficient of variation, and the mean moisture content is chiveCenterat http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov.
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