SMEX03: Soil Moisture Data from Alabama MesoNet

SMEX03 ALMNet and SCAN Soil Moisture Data: Alabama, Version 1 includes soil moisture measurements collected at crop, pasture, and forested sites within the Alabama MesoNet network. The dataset likely contains time-series data for soil moisture, soil temperature, and precipitation amount. Documentation and support for this data are limited, as noted by NSIDC.

Use Cases

• Validating soil moisture models using ground-based measurements from diverse land covers.
• Monitoring agricultural drought conditions based on soil moisture and precipitation data.
• Analyzing temporal soil moisture trends for crop, pasture, and forest sites.
• Calibrating remote sensing soil moisture products with in-situ data.

Strengths

• Data collected across multiple land cover types (crop, pasture, forest), increasing ecological relevance.
• Cross-platform presence on datagov and nasa_earthdata signals recognized importance.

Limitations

• Documentation was provided solely by Principal Investigators and not reviewed by NSIDC, indicating potential gaps.
• Conflicting last updated dates exist between sources (2003 vs. 2026), creating uncertainty about data currency.
• Column names and row counts are unknown, limiting immediate usability.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data collected at sites within the Alabama MesoNet (ALMNet) network.

Freshness

Last updated dates conflict: 2026-04-09 (datagov) and 2003-07-15 (nasa_earthdata).

Geography

Alabama, USA