U.S. flagAn official website of the United States government
                    Here's how you know **Official websites use .gov**
                            
                            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
 **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
                            
                            A **lock** (                            
                              A locked padlock                                                      
                            
                            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Menu Agricultural Research Service
						
                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 close



Research
                Research Home
                            National Programs
                            Research Projects
                            Scientific Manuscripts
                            International Engagement
                            Scientific Software/Models
                            Databases and Datasets
                            Office of Scientific Quality Review
            Media
                News & Features
                            Multimedia
                            Briefing Room
                            Down on the Farm
                            Press Room
                            Science in Your Shopping Cart
                            Scientific Discoveries
                            Tellus
                            Under the Microscope
            About ARS
                About ARS Home
                            Staff Directory
                            Labs and Research Centers (Map)
                            Headquarter Offices
                            Organizational Chart
                            Employee Services (REE Employees Only)
                            Office of Outreach, Diversity, and Equal Opportunity
            Work With Us
                Work With Us Home
                            ARS Vacancies at USAJOBS
                            Careers at ARS Information
                            Scientific Collaborations
                            Extramural Agreements
                            1890 Faculty Research Sabbatical ProgramSearch small
                    Search
            
            ARS Home
                                About ARS
                                Contact Us




ARS Home Research Publications at this Location





- ARS National Programs
- Search for a scientific manuscript
- Search for a research project
- ARS Software
- Programs and Projects
- Collaborations
- Subjects of Investigation
- Publications

Title:   Author  item
                                            REICHLE, ROLF - NASA GSFCitem
                                            Crow, Wadeitem
                                            KOSTER, R - NASA GSFCitem
                                            SHARIF, H - UNIVERSITY OF TEXASitem
                                            MAHANAMA, S - NASA GSFC
  Submitted to: Geophysical Research Letters
                                    Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
                                    Publication Acceptance Date: 11/26/2007
                                    Publication  Date: 1/10/2008
                                    Citation: Reichle, R.H., Crow, W.T., Koster, R.D., Sharif, H.O., Mahanama, S.P. 2008. The contribution of soil moisture retrievals to land data assimilation products. Geophysical Research Letters. 35, L01404, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2007GL031986.Interpretive Summary: Data assimilation systems optimally combine land surface information derived from both remote sensing observations and land surface models (driven primarily using rainfall observations).  Consequently the added value of remotely sensed observations for agricultural applications depends not just on the accuracy of the observations themselves but also on the accuracy of competing information derived from land surface models alone.  This is critical because if land surface models alone can provide critical information than there is no need to invest is expensive remote sensing technologies.  This study presents a new methodology for determining the added value associated with remote sensing soil moisture observations for a wide variety of potential observation and modeling accuracies.  As such, it provides a more rigorous description of the added benefits associated with deploying satellite-base soil moisture observing systems.
                                Technical Abstract: Satellite retrievals of surface soil moisture are subject to errors and cannot provide complete space-time coverage. Data assimilation systems merge available satellite retrievals with information from land surface models and antecedent meteorological data, information that is spatio-temporally complete but likewise uncertain. For the design of new satellite missions it is critical to understand just how uncertain satellite retrievals can be and still be useful. Here, we present a synthetic data assimilation experiment that determines the contribution of satellite retrievals to the skill of land assimilation products as a function of retrieval and land model skill. As expected, the skill of the assimilation products increases with both the skill of the model and that of the retrievals. The skill of the soil moisture assimilation products always exceeds that of the model acting alone; even retrievals of low quality contribute information to the assimilation product, particularly if model skill is modest.


Return to top


Connect with ARS Sign up


ARS Home
                            USDA.gov
                            Plain Writing
                            Policies & Links
                            Civil Rights Statements
                            FOIA
                            Accessibility Statement
                            Privacy Policy
                            Non-Discrimination Statement
                            Quality of Information
                            USA.gov
                            WhiteHouse.gov