SMEX04: L-band Soil Moisture and Brightness Temperatures

SMEX04 Two-Dimensional Synthetic Aperture Radiometer (2D-STAR) Brightness Temperatures, Arizona, Version 1 contains dual-polarized L-band brightness temperature and soil moisture data. The dataset was collected by the 2D-STAR instrument during the Soil Moisture Experiment 2004 (SMEX04) in Arizona. It provides time-series geospatial measurements for microwave remote sensing applications.

Use Cases

• Calibrating soil moisture retrieval algorithms based on L-band brightness temperature data.
• Validating satellite-derived soil moisture products using ground-based radiometer measurements.
• Analyzing the relationship between dual-polarized brightness temperature and surface soil moisture.
• Studying the performance of synthetic aperture radiometer technology for Earth observation.

Strengths

• Contains dual-polarized L-band measurements, a key frequency for soil moisture sensing.
• Data is associated with a specific, documented field experiment (SMEX04).
• Dataset is hosted on multiple authoritative platforms (NASA, Data.gov), indicating recognized importance.

Limitations

• Documentation was provided solely by Principal Investigators and not reviewed/edited by NSIDC, which may limit support.
• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific columns are unknown across all sources.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date (2004 vs. 2026), creating uncertainty about data currency.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Measured by the Two-Dimensional Synthetic Aperture Radiometer (2D-STAR) instrument.

Time Range

2004

Freshness

2026-04-09 22:55:32.587715

Geography

Arizona, USA