Professor Ramata Magagi of CARTEL is leading the Canadian Experiment for Soil Moisture in 2010 (CanEx-SM10) which brings together more than 50 researchers and students. The objective of this project, in coordination with the validation activities for theSoil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA), is to develop algorithms for the estimation of soil moisture in Canada. Soil moisture is one of the most important factors that influence meteorological conditions, including air temperature, humidity, clouds and precipitation. It is also the principal determining factor for the distribution of vegetation, drought and flood risk. At a largescale, soil moisture plays a critical role in global cycles of water and energy.
During CanEx-SM10, a series of instruments having the same characteristics as SMOS and the future Soil Moisture Active and Passive Microwave (SMAP) satellite from NASA were mounted on two research planes from Environment Canada and NASA in order to collect validation data. The airborne measurements were synchronous with ground-based measurements of soil moisture, surface temperature and other surface characteristics, as well as the passage of several satellites (i.e. SMOS, AMSR-E, ASAR-Envisat, RADARSAT-2, and ALOS-PALSAR) over the agricultural and forested study sites.
These measurements will allow the development of large scale soil moisture retrieval algorithms and to establish relationships between ground-based, airborne and satellite measurements.
Contact : Ramata Magagi
Additional information :
CanEx-SM10 (Canadian Experiment for Soil Moisture in 2010) website