SMEX03 Surface Roughness Data for Regional Soil Moisture Study

2003 data collected over regional study areas in Alabama, Georgia, and Oklahoma as part of the Soil Moisture Experiment (SMEX03). The dataset is provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and contains surface roughness measurements. It is available in multiple file formats, including BIN, ISO, and HTML.

Use Cases

• Calibrating and validating microwave remote sensing models for soil moisture estimation using surface roughness parameters.
• Analyzing spatial variability of land surface characteristics across different regional climates in the southeastern and central USA.
• Supporting studies on the impact of surface roughness on radar backscatter signals in agricultural and natural landscapes.

Strengths

• Data originates from a controlled, mission-specific experiment (SMEX03) conducted by NASA.
• Provides geospatial coverage across three distinct U.S. states (Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma).
• The dataset's cross-platform presence on Data.gov and NASA EarthData indicates established curation and importance.

Limitations

• Critical metadata such as column names, row count, and file size are unavailable from all sources.
• A conflict exists on the last update date: Data.gov lists 2026-03-12, while NASA EarthData lists 2003-07 21.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Collected as part of the 2003 Soil Moisture Experiment (SMEX03).

Time Range

2003

Freshness

2026-03-12 21:19:06.476237

Geography

Regional study areas in Alabama, Georgia, and Oklahoma, USA.