Canadian Experiment for Soil Moisture in 2010 (CanEX-SM10): Overview and Preliminary Results

The Canadian Experiment for Soil Moisture in 2010 (CanEx-SM10) was carried out in Saskatchewan, Canada from 31 May to 16 June, 2010. Its main objective was to contribute to Soil Moisture and Ocean salinity (SMOS) mission validation and the pre-launch assessment of Soil Moisture and Active and Passive (SMAP) mission. During CanEx-SM10, SMOS data as well as other passive and active microwave measurements were collected by both airborne and satellite platforms. Ground-based measurements of soil (moisture, temperature, roughness, bulk density) and vegetation characteristics (Leaf Area Index, biomass, vegetation height) were conducted close in time to the airborne and satellite acquisitions. Besides, two ground-based in situ networks provided continuous measurements of meteorological conditions and soil moisture and soil temperature profiles. Two sites, each covering 33 km x 71 km (about two SMOS pixels) were selected in agricultural and boreal forested areas in order to provide contrasting soil and vegetation conditions. This paper describes the measurement strategy, provides an overview of the data sets and presents preliminary results. Over the agricultural area, the airborne L-band brightness temperatures matched up well with the SMOS data. The Radio frequency interference (RFI) observed in both SMOS and the airborne L-band radiometer data exhibited spatial and temporal variability and polarization dependency. The temporal evolution of SMOS soil moisture product matched that observed with the ground data, but the absolute soil moisture estimates did not meet the accuracy requirements (0.04 m3/m3) of the SMOS mission. AMSR-E soil moisture estimates are more closely correlated with measured soil moisture

Attenuation relationships for HPGA: sensitivity analysis and applications

International audienc

Polarimetric backscattering behaviour of river ice cover.

International audienc

River ice mapping from PolSARimages.

International audienc

Classification of river ice using polarimetric SAR data.

International audienc

Simulating aerosols over Arabian Peninsula with CHIMERE : Sensitivity to soil, surface parameters and anthropogenic emission inventories

A three dimensional chemistry transport model, CHIMERE, was used to simulate the aerosol optical depths (AOD) over the Arabian Peninsula desert with an offline coupling of Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The simulations were undertaken with: (i) different horizontal and vertical configurations, (ii) new datasets derived for soil/surface properties, and (iii) EDGAR-HTAP anthropogenic emissions inventories. The model performance evaluations were assessed: (i) qualitatively using MODIS (Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) deep blue (DB) AOD data for the two local dust events of August 6th and 23rd (2013), and (ii) quantitatively using AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network) AOD observations, CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation) aerosol extinction profiles, and AOD simulations from various forecast models. The model results were observed to be highly sensitive to erodibility and aerodynamic surface roughness length. The use of new datasets on soil erodibility, derived from the MODIS reflectance, and aerodynamic surface roughness length (z0), derived from the ERA-Interim datasets, significantly improved the simulation results. Simulations with the global EDGAR-HTAP anthropogenic emission inventories brought the simulated AOD values closer to the observations. Performance testing of the adapted model for the Arabian Peninsula domain with improved datasets showed good agreement between AERONET AOD measurements and CHIMERE simulations, where the correlation coefficient (R) is 0.6. Higher values of the correlation coefficients and slopes were observed for the dusty periods compared to the non-dusty periods