PRISM-21

Lake Calibration

experiment Overview 

The in-flight calibration check is accomplished by flying over a water body and ground stations. Lake Wyangan was used as the cold in-flight calibration target of P- /L-band radiometers. Given the relatively small size of the water storage, the aircraft will be flown at the lowest permissible altitude (500ft) within the lake boundary along a distance of around 1 km. Ground requirements for over-water flights include monitoring of the water temperature and salinity within the top 1 cm layer of water. Both quantities was monitored continuously during the campaign using a UNIDATA 6536B® temperature and salinity sensor connected to a logger, located at -34.214348, 146.021501 at Lake Wyangan. Furthermore, transects of water temperature and salinity in the top 1 cm layer was undertaken with a handheld temperature and salinity meter (Hydralab Quanta®) at the start and end of the PRISM campaign. This involved making north-south and east-west transects at around 100 m spacing centred on the monitoring station. The purpose of these measurements is to check for spatial variability.

Lake Calibration Equipment

Lake Station UNIDATA 6536B® temperature and salinity sensor

PLEASE NOTE: The following data sets should be acknowledged According to the following:

PRISM-21:

X. Wu, N. Ye, J. Walker, I.-Y. Yeo, T. Jackson, Y. Kerr, E. Kim and A. McGrath. (2021). The P-band Radiometer Inferred Soil Moisture Experiment 2021 WORKPLAN. Monash University, 136.