SMEX02 SMACEX: Soil Moisture and Atmospheric Flight Data, Iowa

Walnut Creek watershed in central Iowa, USA, is the location for this dataset of airborne measurements collected in June and July 2002. The data likely contains atmospheric and surface variables for studying soil moisture-atmosphere coupling. It was collected as part of the Soil Moisture Atmosphere Coupling Experiment (SMACEX) within the SMEX02 campaign.

Use Cases

• Modeling soil moisture-atmosphere feedbacks based on coupled atmospheric and surface measurements.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of heat flux and net radiation over agricultural land.
• Studying wind profiles and surface temperature variations during the summer growing season.
• Calibrating or validating satellite-derived soil moisture and vegetation indices.
• Investigating carbon and ozone compound concentrations in an agricultural atmosphere.

Strengths

• Data is from a focused scientific campaign (SMEX02/SMACEX) with a clear geographic and temporal scope.
• Covers multiple atmospheric and surface domains, as suggested by tags for radiation, winds, temperature, and vegetation.
• Dataset is hosted on multiple platforms (Data.gov and NASA Earthdata), indicating recognized importance.

Limitations

• Column names and data structure are not provided, hindering immediate analysis.
• Conflicting 'last updated' metadata: Data.gov lists 2026 (likely administrative), while NASA Earthdata lists 2002 (likely actual data date).
• License is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without explicit terms.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Measurements collected from aircraft flights.

Time Range

June to July 2002

Freshness

2002-07-06 23:59:59.999000

Geography

Walnut Creek watershed, central Iowa, USA