SMEX04 Vegetation Data: In-Situ Measurements from Arizona and Sonora

Sonora, Mexico and Arizona, USA are the geographic scope for this in situ vegetation data collected during the Soil Moisture Experiment 2004 (SMEX04). The dataset contains ground-based measurements from a multispectral radiometer and a plant-canopy analyzer. Its primary purpose is to support research on land surface properties and vegetation biophysical characteristics.

Use Cases

• Validating satellite-derived soil moisture and vegetation indices based on in-situ radiometer readings.
• Modeling vegetation biomass and canopy structure using plant-canopy analyzer data.
• Analyzing land surface reflectance properties for specific vegetation species in semi-arid regions.

Strengths

• Data originates from a structured, well-documented scientific field campaign (SMEX04).
• Cross-platform presence on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov signals its importance and persistence.
• In-situ collection method provides ground-truth data for remote sensing validation.

Limitations

• Documentation was provided solely by Principal Investigators and not reviewed by NSIDC, indicating potential support gaps.
• Key metadata such as row count, column names, and exact file size are unknown across all sources.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date (2004-08-24 vs. 2026-04-09), creating uncertainty about data currency.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

In situ data collection using a multispectral radiometer and a plant-canopy analyzer.

Time Range

2004

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:57:00.472460

Geography

Soil Moisture Experiment 2004 (SMEX04) areas of Arizona, USA and Sonora, Mexico.