NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Mission

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NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Mission
Susan Moran (USDA ARS) Vanessa Escobar, Molly
Brown and Peggy O'Neill (NASA GSFC) Dara
Entekhabi (MIT) Eni Njoku and Kent Kellogg (JPL
Caltech/NASA)
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Project/Mission Context
Tier 1 20102013 Launch Tier 1 20102013 Launch
Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP)
ICESAT II
DESDynI
CLARREO
Tier 2 20132016 Launch Tier 2 20132016 Launch
SWOT
HYSPIRI
ASCENDS
GEO-CAFE
ACE
Tier 3 20162020 Launch Tier 3 20162020 Launch
LIST
PATH
GRACE-II
SCLP
GACM
3D-WINDS
US National Research Council Report Earth
Science and Applications from Space National
Imperatives for the next Decade and Beyond
(National Research Council, 2007)
http//www.nap.edu
SMAP is one of four missions recommended by the
NRC Decadal Survey for launch in the 20102013
time frame

• Feb 2008 NASA announces start of SMAP project
• SMAP is a directed-mission with heritage from
  Hydros
• Hydros risk-reduction performed during Phase A
• (instrument, spacecraft dynamics, science,
  ground system)
• Cancelled 2005 due to NASA budgetary constraints

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Science Requirements
DS Objective Application Science Requirement
Weather Forecast Initialization of Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) Hydrometeorology
Climate Prediction Boundary and Initial Conditions for Seasonal Climate Prediction Models Hydroclimatology
Climate Prediction Testing Land Surface Models in General Circulation Models Hydroclimatology
Drought and Agriculture Monitoring Seasonal Precipitation Prediction Hydroclimatology
Drought and Agriculture Monitoring Regional Drought Monitoring Hydroclimatology
Drought and Agriculture Monitoring Crop Outlook Hydroclimatology
Flood Forecast Improvements River Forecast Model Initialization Hydrometeorology
Flood Forecast Improvements Flash Flood Guidance (FFG) Hydrometeorology
Flood Forecast Improvements NWP Initialization for Precipitation Forecast Hydrometeorology
Human Health Seasonal Heat Stress Outlook Hydroclimatology
Human Health Near-Term Air Temperature and Heat Stress Forecast Hydrometeorology
Human Health Disease Vector Seasonal Outlook Hydroclimatology
Human Health Disease Vector Near-Term Forecast (NWP) Hydrometeorology
Boreal Carbon Freeze/Thaw Date Freeze/Thaw State
Requirement Hydro-Meteorology Hydro-Climatology Carbon Cycle Baseline Mission Baseline Mission
Requirement Hydro-Meteorology Hydro-Climatology Carbon Cycle Soil Moisture Freeze/Thaw
Resolution 415 km 50100 km 110 km 10 km 3 km
Refresh Rate 23 days 34 days 23 days(1) 3 days 2 days(1)
Accuracy 46 46 8070 4 80
() classification accuracy (binary
Freeze/Thaw) () cm3 cm-3 volumetric water
content, 1-sigma
(1)North of 45N latitude
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Mission Science Objective
Global mapping of Soil Moisture and Freeze/Thaw
state
Primary Controls on Land Evaporation and
Biosphere Primary Productivity
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SMAP Mission Concept
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory Californ
ia Institute of Technology Pasadena, California

• L-band unfocused SAR and radiometer system,
  offset-fed 6 m light-weight deployable mesh
  reflector. Shared feed for
• 1.26 GHz dual-pol Radar at 1-3 km (30 nadir gap)
  
• 1.4 GHz polarimetric Radiometer at 40 km
• Conical scan, fixed incidence angle across swath
• Contiguous 1000 km swath with 2-3 days revisit
• Sun-synchronous 6am/6pm orbit (680 km)
• Launch 2014
• Mission duration 3 years

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Hydrometeorology Applications NWP
Trends in Short-Term Weather (0-14 Days) NWP
Resolution
SMAP
Sources Global Forecast/Analysis System
Bulletins http//www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/gmb/STATS/h
tml/model_changes.html The ECMWF Forecasting
System Since 1979 http//ecmwf.int/products/foreca
sts/guide/The_general_circulation_model.html
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Climate Prediction
Fischer et al. (2007) Soil MoistureAtmosphere
Interactions during the 2003 European Summer Heat
Wave, Journal of Climate, 20, 5089-5099.
2003 European heat-wave caused 35,000 deaths New
Scientist (Oct. 10 2003).
Model simulations showing predicted summer air
temperature anomalies using two different
initializations of spring soil moisture
conditions.
SMAP soil moisture observations would enhance
quality of seasonal climate predictions.
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Flood Prediction and Drought Monitoring
Current Operational Drought Indices by NOAA
(NIDIS - National Integrated Drought Information
System)
Current Empirical Soil Moisture Indices Based on
Rainfall and Air Temperature ( By Counties gt40
km and Climate Divisions gt55 km ) Future SMAP
Soil Moisture Observations at 10 km
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Applications of Seasonal Prediction and Human
Health
European heatwave cause 35,000 deaths, New
Scientist, Oct. 2003.
Seasonal Climate Prediction 50 km
Resolution Initialize rootzone moisture
Fischer et al. (2007), J. of Climate, 20.
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Climate Change and Water Resources Impacts
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
climate projections
Change in Temperature ºC
Change in Soil Moisture
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3
5
Models disagree on whether there would be MORE or
LESS water compared to today
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2
Models agree on basic temperature response
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2
1
1
0
0
-1
-2
-1
-3
-2
-4
-5
-3
-6
Li et al., (2007) Evaluation of IPCC AR4 soil
moisture simulations for the second half of the
twentieth century, Journal of Geophysical
Research, 112.
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Carbon Dioxide Exchange
Early Thaw Date (1998)
Accumulated Carbon (g/m2)
Normal to Late Thaw Dates (1995, 1996, 1997)
The missing carbon Depending on freeze/thaw
date, same location can be a net source or net
sink of carbon. SMAP freeze/thaw measurements
would reduce errors in the closing of carbon
budget.
Goulden et al., 1998 Sensitivity of Boreal
Forest Carbon Balance to Soil Thaw, Science, 279.
Herring, D. and R. Kannenberg The mystery of the
missing carbon, NASA Earth Observatory.
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DoD Applications

• US Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Army
• Research Laboratory, G-2, Corps of Engineers,
  and
• Marine Corps will use SMAP
  experiment data to validate
• and improve tools to evaluate
  threat and friendly mobility
• 1. Cross Country Mobility (CCM)
• 2. Tri-service Integrated Weather Effects
  Decision Aid (IWEDA)
• 3. Battlespace Terrain Reasoning / Awareness
  (BTRA)
• 4. Opportune Landing System (OLS)
• 5. Integrated air/space operations support
  models/analysis
• 6. Civil-Military Operations (Agriculture
  Forecasts,
• Water Resources Assessments)

• Air Force Weather Agency will use experiment
  data to
• Initialize Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP)
  model for aviation weather, severe weather,
  cloud, and fog forecasts
• Input into Dust Transport Model (DTM)

Naval Ice Center will use experiment data for
high resolution mapping of marine and littoral
ice cover and ice characteristics
Documentation 1. AFSPC weather information key
EDR 2. JROC-Approved NPOESS IORD-II (KPP
4.1.6.1.6)
SMDC-0902
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SMAP Data Products
Product Short Description Resolution Latency
L1A_S0 Radar raw data in time order 12 hours Instrument Data
L1A_TB Radiometer raw data in time order 12 hours Instrument Data
L1B_S0_LoRes Low resolution radar so in time order 5x30 km 12 hours Instrument Data
L1B_TB Radiometer TB in time order 36x47 km 12 hours Instrument Data
L1C_S0_HiRes High resolution radar so 1-3 km 12 hours Instrument Data
L1C_TB Radiometer TB 36 km 12 hours Instrument Data
L2_SM_A Soil moisture (radar) 3 km 24 hours Science Data (Half-Orbit)
L2_SM_P Soil moisture (radiometer) 36 km 24 hours Science Data (Half-Orbit)
L2_SM_A/P Soil moisture (radar/radiometer) 9 km 24 hours Science Data (Half-Orbit)
L3_F/T_A Freeze/thaw state (radar) 3 km 36 hours Science Data (Daily Composite)
L3_SM_P Soil moisture (radiometer) 36 km 36 hours Science Data (Daily Composite)
L3_SM_A/P Soil moisture (radar/radiometer) 9 km 36 hours Science Data (Daily Composite)
L4_SM Soil moisture (surface root zone) 9 km 7 days Science Value-Added
L4_C Carbon net ecosystem exchange (NEE) 9 km 14 days Science Value-Added
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Anthropogenic Radio-Frequency Interference (RFI)
RFI is evident and wide-spread (Data from SMOS)
SMAP is taking aggressive measures to detect and
mitigate RFI in its instrument and data
processing designs.