Soil Moisture and Soil Temperature Observations and Applications: A Joint U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN)

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• Soil Moisture and Soil Temperature Observations
  and Applications A Joint U.S. Climate Reference
  Network (USCRN) National Integrated Drought
  Information System (NIDIS) Workshop, Oak Ridge,
  TN, March 3-5, 2009
• Bruce Baker NOAA/NCDC

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SOIL MOISTURE

• Is of the utmost importance
• with other issues such as radiation, clouds
• Because of its role in
• evaporation
• radiative and heat fluxes
• vegetation albedo, moisture flux
• sustaining life
• And because it has been hard to address

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There are many challenges to be overcome in
relation to soil moisture
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In-situ Soil Moisture and Temperature Sensorsfor
USCRN FY09-10

• Provide status of soil sensors deployment at
  USCRN stations
• Provide overview of soil sensors network across
  U.S.
• Identify potential uses of in-situ soil sensors
• Explore potential opportunities to integrate with
  similar satellite measurements, other remote
  sensing techniques, NIDIS, International
  community

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U. S. Climate Reference Network Station

National-Level Climate Monitoring

(Cornell University, Ithaca, New York)
GOES DCS Satellite
Geonor 3-wire weighing precipitation gauge with
backup gauge inside small DFIR fence and single
alter.
Relative Humidity in Ventilated Radiation Housing
Power Control
Solar Radiation (Pyranometer)
Anemometer
Three High-Precision Platinum Resistance
Thermometers in Individual Ventilated Radiation
Housings
Ground (IR) Temperature
Wetness Sensor
Soil Moisture Soil Temperature (in test)
Datalogger
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Geonor 3-wire all weather weighing precipitation
gauge inside small DFIR fence and single alter.
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U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN) All 114
Stations Installed/Operational End of FY 08
Installed 7 Pairs (14)
Installed Single (92)
Awaiting Installation (8)
Updated April 1, 2008
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U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN)
Alaska Locations
Single sites installed (2) Pt. Barrow Fairbanks
Single sites to be installed FY 10-14 (27
locations)
GCOS single sites installed (2) Sitka St.
Paul Island
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U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN)
Hawaiian Locations
Single sites installed at end FY 05 (2) Mauna
Loa Summit, and Waiakea
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Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors

• U.S. Observing Networks known to have Soil
  Sensors
• U.S. Department of Agricultures Soil Climate
  Analysis Network (SCAN)
• http//www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/scan/
• http//www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/scan/SCAN-brochure.p
  df
• National network of remotely located stations
  collect atmospheric measurements along with soil
  moisture and soil temperature.
• Total of five (5) sensors, one placed at
  5,10,20,50, and 100 cm depths.
• All stations have full soil survey
  characterization information.
• Developed to provide near real-time soil-climate
  information for natural resource planning,
  drought assessment, and water resource
  management.
• Currently the network has 111 stations located
  in 39 states. Most stations have been installed
  since 1999, following the completion of a 10-year
  soil moisture/soil temperature pilot project.
• Meteor burst communications technology provides
  data in near real-time.
• Hourly data quickly made available to the public
  via the Internet.

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USDA Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN)

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Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors
Deployment to USCRN Stations(NIDIS FY
08 funded)

• U.S. Observing Networks known to have Soil
  Sensors
• NOAA/NWS Cooperative (Volunteer) Observing
  Network (COOP)
• Of the present 8,000 U.S. COOP stations, there
  are only 263 (262 reporting) COOP stations that
  measure and report soil temperature (only).
• Observations are archived as part of the COOP
  database at the NCDC.
• Data is reported daily to weekly to monthly.
• As a quality-controlled product it is not
  usually available for most uses until 4-6 months
  after the observations have been taken.
• The utility of this data as a stand-alone
  dataset for operational use is limited by its
  timeliness, spatial paucity, and the lack of the
  even more critical soil moisture measurement.

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NOAA Cooperative Observer Network Soil
Temperature Stations
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Soil Sensors Map USDA SCAN, NWS COOP, and NESDIS
USCRN (Deploy USCRN FY 08-12, 114 sites _at_ 107
locations)
Coop (Temp only 263)
SCAN (Moisture Temp 111)
Additional 24 coop
CRN (Moisture Temp 114 FY 08-12)
(06/16/06)
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U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN)
Alaska Locations
12/12/07 Red boxes indicates USDA desire for
collocating soil sensors at USCRN stations.
Single sites installed (2) Pt. Barrow Fairbanks
Single sites to be installed FY 10-14 (27
locations)
GCOS single sites installed (2) Sitka St.
Paul Island
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U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN)
Alaska Locations
Red box indicates (2/25/08) Permafrost
Temperature Network desire for collocating
permafrost temperature sensors at USCRN stations
?
Single sites installed (2) Pt. Barrow Fairbanks
Single sites to be installed FY 10-14 (27
locations)
GCOS single sites installed (2) Sitka St.
Paul Island
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Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors
Deployment to 114 USCRN Stations(NIDIS
FY 08 funded)

• U.S. Observing Networks known to have Soil
  Sensors
• NOAA/OAR Global Energy and Water Cycle
  Experiment (GEWEX)
• http//www.gewex.org/
• U.S. contribution to GEWEX - ten (10)
  continental U.S. sites reflect the range of
  ecosystems used for understanding climate forcing
  and the impact on the surface energy balance.
• Ground-based measurements of surface energy
  balance including sensible latent heat flux,
  ground heat flux, and net radiation (radiation
  measurements are not to BSRN standards),
  turbulent fluxes of momentum and carbon dioxide.
• Supporting observations air temperature,
  humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed
  direction, surface wetness, soil temperatures (7
  levels), soil moisture (5 levels) and
  precipitation.
• Data processed on a daily basis and disseminated
  to users and clients via FTP.
• Calibration standards for radiation and
  temperature same as USCRN.
• Additional capabilities model development,
  especially those linked with satellite data for
  determining the status of the land surface.

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Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors
Deployment to USCRN Stations(NIDIS FY
08 funded)
Installation at Fort Peck, MTAugust 31, 2006
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Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors
Deployment to USCRN Stations(NIDIS FY
08 funded)
With Replicates
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Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors
Deployment to USCRN Stations(NIDIS FY
08 funded)
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Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors
Deployment to USCRN Stations(NIDIS FY
08 funded)
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Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors
Deployment to USCRN Stations(NIDIS FY
08 funded)
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Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors
Deployment to USCRN Stations(NIDIS FY
08 funded)

• USCRN - 144 Stations across Lower 48 states
• http//www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/uscrn/
• The sensor (Hydra) is the same used in USDA/SCAN
  (Soil Climate and Analysis Network)
• Meets established requirements for measurement of
  soil moisture and soil temperature
• Peer reviewed publications support operation of
  the sensor

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Hydra Probe by Stevens Waterhttp//stevenswater.c
om
Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors
Deployment to USCRN Stations(NIDIS FY
08 funded)

• Hydra Probe technology has been in use for 10
  years in support of NASA for ground truthing of
  satellite data
• The Hydra II sensor digital output easily
  interfaces to dataloggers used in USCRN (some are
  currently deployed in GEWEX)

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Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors
Deployment to USCRN Stations(NIDIS FY
08 funded)

• This configuration optimizes the ability to
  characterize and quantify \ variability..
• USCRN proposed vertical configuration (number
  and placement) of soil moisture/soil temperature
  sensors (same as GEWEX) includes
• 3 sensors at 5cm
• 3 sensors at 10cm
• 3 sensors at 20 cm
• 3 sensors at 50cm
• 3 ssensor at 100cm
• Soil moisture, like many other soil measurements
  are subject to an
• inherent natural variability that can only be
  assessed by replicate
• sampling for in-situ measurement systems
  (quantify uncertainty)
• Sensor redundancy helps to insure continuity of
  measurements for a
• particular depth, if a particular sensor goes
  bad. (potentially decrease
• network maintenance cost by the use of replicate
  measurements)

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Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors
Deployment to USCRN Stations(NIDIS FY
08 funded)

• Will this configuration improve the ability to
  calculate the water budget at these sites?
• Yes the upper layers are the most variable and
  the uncertainty can be quantified with the
  replicate measurements.
• Will this additional information be of use to
  remote sensing??
• Yes because the observed surface variability can
  be incorporated into the data analyses for remote
  sensing calibrations.
• Will this additional information be beneficial
  to the modeling of
• this component?
• Yes, definitely. There is no point refining a
  model beyond the degree of uncertainty in the
  source or calibrations data and you have some
  measure of data uncertainty.
•  

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Soil Probe Differences dry sand
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Soil Probe Differences Wet Sand
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Soil Probe Differences Water
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• DISCUSSION

• - METADATA
• - INSTALLATION PROCEDURES
• - QA/QC
• - WHERE SHOULD WE GO FIRST?
• 40 STATIONS INSTALLED FY09
• - TESTBEDS
• INTENSIVE CAMPAIGNS
• SAMPLING PROTOCOL