SoilSCAPE In-Situ Soil Moisture and Temperature Profiles from Four U.S. States

SoilSCAPE data provides high-resolution in-situ soil moisture and temperature measurements from over 200 wireless sensor nodes across four U.S. states. Collected at 20-minute intervals since August 2011, the network supports validation of NASA's AirMOSS and SMAP satellite missions. The dataset, managed by NASA, offers profiles at multiple depths and continues to be updated from eight active sites.

Use Cases

• Validating regional-scale soil moisture estimates from NASA's SMAP satellite using in-situ sensor data.
• Calibrating airborne remote sensing data from missions like AirMOSS with ground-truth measurements.
• Analyzing temporal soil moisture dynamics at 20-minute intervals for hydrological modeling.
• Studying soil temperature variations at a 5 cm depth across different geographic regions.
• Investigating local-scale soil moisture profiles at standard depths of 5, 20, and 50 cm.

Strengths

• High temporal resolution with measurements recorded every 20 minutes.
• Spatial scale includes over 200 sensor installations (nodes) across 12 distinct sites.
• Long-term data collection spanning from August 2011 to the present at eight continuing sites.
• Multi-depth soil moisture profiles collected at standard depths of 5, 20, and 50 cm.

Limitations

• Sensor placement was occasionally limited by soil conditions like hard soil or rocks.
• Temperature data is only available from six of the total sites.
• Conflicting metadata exists: one platform lists a last update in 2026, while another lists 2019, creating uncertainty about current maintenance.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Data collected via wireless sensor network using EC-5 and 5-TM sensors from Decagon Devices.

Time Range

August 2011 to present

Freshness

2026-03-12 21:22:18.376724

Geography

Sites in California, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Michigan, United States.