SMEX03 AMSR-E: Daily Soil Moisture and Brightness Temperatures for Oklahoma

NSIDC provides the SMEX03 AMSR-E Daily Gridded Soil Moisture and Brightness Temperatures dataset for Oklahoma. It contains Level-3 daily measurements of surface soil moisture and vegetation/roughness water content interpretive information derived from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - Earth Observing System (AMSR-E). The data is presented in a gridded format, likely for the duration of the Soil Moisture Experiment 2003 (SMEX03) campaign.

Use Cases

• Monitoring agricultural drought conditions based on daily surface soil moisture estimates.
• Validating land surface models using gridded brightness temperature and soil moisture data.
• Studying the relationship between vegetation water content and microwave emissions.
• Analyzing surface roughness effects on passive microwave remote sensing signals.

Strengths

• Data originates from a well-established satellite instrument, NASA's AMSR-E.
• Provides daily, gridded measurements for consistent spatial and temporal analysis.
• Dataset is hosted on multiple authoritative platforms (NASA Earthdata and Data.gov), indicating recognized utility.

Limitations

• Documentation was provided solely by the Principal Investigators and not reviewed/edited by NSIDC, limiting support.
• Column names and precise data structure are unknown, complicating direct use.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date (2003 vs. 2026), creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.

Provenance

Source

NSIDC (National Snow and Ice Data Center), data from AMSR-E instrument.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - Earth Observing System (AMSR-E).

Time Range

Likely covers the 2003 Soil Moisture Experiment (SMEX03) period.

Freshness

2026-04-09 22:57:43.094429

Geography

Oklahoma, USA.