AirMOSS P-band Radar Data for Boreal Soil Moisture

AirMOSS provides Level 1 polarimetric radar backscatter data from a NASA P-band SAR instrument flown on a Gulfstream-III aircraft. The dataset covers 10 study sites across North America, with flight campaigns conducted at least twice per year from 2012 to 2015. These calibrated, georeferenced measurements are designed for retrieving root-zone soil moisture.

Use Cases

• Retrieving root-zone soil moisture using polarimetric radar backscattering coefficient (sigma-0) data.
• Analyzing seasonal and inter-annual variability in soil moisture across boreal ecosystems.
• Investigating relationships between subsurface soil moisture and carbon flux uncertainties.
• Calibrating and validating soil moisture models with P-band SAR observations from 2012-2015.
• Studying subcanopy and subsurface features in boreal regions using fully polarimetric radar data.

Strengths

• Data is polarimetrically calibrated and georeferenced, ensuring readiness for quantitative analysis.
• Covers a multi-year time series (2012-2015) with at least biannual campaigns, capturing seasonal dynamics.
• Collected across 10 distinct study sites in North America, providing spatial variety for continental-scale studies.
• Utilizes P-band (420-440 MHz) radar, which is specifically designed for penetrating vegetation to sense root-zone soil moisture.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, file sizes, and detailed column names are not provided by any source.
• Conflicting license information: one source lists 'other-license-specified', another lists 'None'.
• Conflicting last updated dates: one source shows 2026-03-13, another shows 2015-09 28, suggesting potential metadata errors.

Provenance

Source

Airborne Microwave Observatory of Subcanopy and Subsurface (AirMOSS) radar instrument, NASA.

Collection Method

Airborne data collection via a NASA Gulfstream-III aircraft equipped with a fully polarimetric P-band SAR.

Time Range

2012 to 2015

Freshness

2026-03-13 18:52:50.378979

Geography

BERMS (Boreal Ecosystem Research and Monitoring Sites) in Saskatchewan, Canada, and 9 other study sites across North America.