SMEX04 Vegetation Water Content Data for Arizona and Sonora

Vegetation Water Content data for two regional study areas in Arizona, USA and Sonora, Mexico, collected during the Soil Moisture Experiment 2004 (SMEX04). The dataset was derived from the Normalized Difference Infrared Index (NDII) calculated from Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper imagery. It is provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, with documentation from the Principal Investigators.

Use Cases

• Modeling soil moisture by analyzing vegetation water content as a proxy.
• Studying seasonal vegetation stress in arid environments using NDII-derived metrics.
• Calibrating or validating satellite-based soil moisture retrieval algorithms for the SMEX04 campaign.
• Assessing regional water use and drought impacts on vegetation in cross-border studies.

Strengths

• Data is derived from calibrated Landsat 5 TM satellite imagery, providing a standardized remote sensing source.
• Covers two distinct regional study areas, allowing for comparative analysis between Arizona and Sonora.
• Part of a defined field campaign (SMEX04), providing context for validation with ground measurements.

Limitations

• Documentation was provided solely by Principal Investigators and not reviewed by NSIDC, which may limit support.
• Key technical details like row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' date between platforms (2004-08-30 vs. 2026-03-12), creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Derived from Normalized Difference Infrared Index (NDII) obtained from Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery.

Time Range

2004

Freshness

2026-03-12 19:47:04.065222

Geography

Arizona, USA and Sonora, Mexico