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
 Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory: Beltsville, MD
 close



    Research

                    Research Projects
                                    Publications
                                    Collaborations
                                    News
                                    Software
                People

                    Staff Listing
                                    CareersSearch small
                    Search
            
            ARS Home
                                About ARS
                                Contact Us




ARS Home Northeast Area Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) Beltsville Agricultural Research Center Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory 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
- People
- Research Sites
- Pesticide Volatilization
- Watershed Modeling
- Climate Change
- Soil Moisture
- Drought and ET
- HRSL Brochure

Title:   Author  item
                                            YANG, ZHENGWEI - National Agricultural Statistical Service (NASS, USDA)item
                                            MUELLER, RICK - National Agricultural Statistical Service (NASS, USDA)item
                                            Crow, Wade
  Submitted to: International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium Proceedings
                                    Publication Type: Abstract Only
                                    Publication Acceptance Date: 6/15/2013
                                    Publication  Date: 7/21/2013
                                    Citation: Yang, Z., Mueller, R., Crow, W.T. 2013. U.S National cropland soil moisture monitoring using SMAP [abstract]. International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, July 21-26, 2013, Melbourne, Australia. 2013 CDROM.Interpretive Summary:
                                Technical Abstract: Crop condition information is critical for public and private sector decision making that concerns agricultural policy, food production, food security, and food commodity prices. Crop conditions change quickly due to various growing condition events, such as temperature extremes, soil moisture deficits, fertilization application, and disease outbreak. Therefore, timely, frequent and high-resolution observations are required throughout the growing season to monitor crop condition and progress.  The National Agriculture Statistics Services (NASS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) publishes a weekly crop progress and condition report which includes an analysis of soil moisture conditions. NASS currently monitors crop soil moisture conditions via weekly field observations from counties in 45 states. State-level estimates are based on subjective field observations and not objective measurements. The surveyed topsoil and subsoil moisture are published weekly during the growing season. The reports are useful in reflecting major crop events such as large-scale flooding, drought and anomalously cold spring temperature which impact crop acreage and yield. However, the soil moisture reports are imprecise, inconsistent and contain geographical gaps. The survey operation is a burden to farmers and NASS field officers. Its operational cost is very expensive. To improve NASS cropland soil moisture monitoring, this paper proposes to use the remotely-sensed surface soil moisture data for US national cropland soil moisture monitoring. Specifically, the remote sensing results from NASA Soil Moisture Active and Passive (SMAP) mission is proposed to be adapted. This paper will (1) study at the pre-launch stage the feasibility of using SMAP mission results to support US national crop condition monitoring and other NASS operational data needs, such as crop yield modeling needs, and (2) explore a technical route to building a remote sensing-based soil moisture monitoring system prototype based on SMAP data products.


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