LBA-ECO CD-05: Soil Moisture and Meteorology in Amazon Drought Experiment

Volumetric water content, precipitation, temperature, humidity, and dew point data were collected from 1999 to 2007 at the Seca Floresta site in Brazil's Tapajós National Forest as part of the Rainfall Exclusion Experiment. Measurements were taken in two one-hectare plots—one subjected to a ~75% throughfall exclusion during rainy seasons and one serving as a control—to study the response of a humid Amazonian forest to severe drought. The dataset includes soil moisture profiles to an 11-meter depth and vertical forest profile measurements.

Use Cases

• Modeling forest response to drought based on soil moisture and meteorological time series.
• Analyzing the effects of throughfall exclusion on deep soil water content.
• Comparing microclimatic conditions (temperature, humidity) between control and experimental forest plots.
• Calibrating remote sensing soil moisture products with ground-truth measurements to 11m depth.

Strengths

• Provides high-resolution, continuous soil moisture measurements to an 11-meter depth from 1999-2007.
• Includes a controlled drought experiment with a ~75% throughfall exclusion plot and a control plot.
• Cross-platform presence (Data.gov, NASA EarthData) signals importance and validation.

Limitations

• Column names and exact row counts are not specified in any source, limiting immediate usability.
• Conflicting 'last updated' metadata: 2026-04-10 on Data.gov vs. 2007-04-20 on NASA EarthData.
• License is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without further detail.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Field measurements using frequency-domain reflectometry for soil moisture and wedge rain gauges for precipitation.

Time Range

1999 to 2007

Freshness

2026-04-10 (from Data.gov, though this future date is anomalous)

Geography

Seca Floresta site, km 67, Tapajós National Forest, Brazil