TOWER 

Project Archive

Project Overview 

In October 2017, a comprehensive tower-based experiment site was established at Cora Lynn, Melbourne, Australia, for the specific purpose of undertaking a complete end-to-end evaluation of P-band radiometer soil moisture remote sensing readiness as the next-generation of soil moisture satellite missions. The paddock is divided into four quadrants (numbered as 1-4 from the northwest clockwise) with different soil surface roughness and/or vegetation conditions for comparison. The tower carrying P- and L-band radiometers is located at the center of the paddock. Five monitoring stations are installed at the four edges of the four quadrants.

Other supporting data collected regularly include radiometer calibration data, surface soil moisture (~5 cm) over the radiometer footprints using the Hydra-probe Data Acquisition System (HDAS), soil surface roughness, VWC and the spectral reflectance of vegetation.  

Location of the Tower project

Tower Project Equipment     

a) The tower carrying P- and L-band radiometers; b) the monitoring station with rain gauge; c) warm calibration for the radiometer; and regular measurements of d) surface soil moisture using the Hydra-probe Data Acquisition System (HDAS), e) soil surface roughness, f) vegetation water content and g) the spectral reflectance of vegetation.

Overview of Data Set

Dataset overview collected in quadrant 2 from 2017-2020 as an example, including a) TB observations at 30° incidence angle, b) station time-series soil moisture and c) temperature, d) soil roughness rms height, and e) vegetation water content.

PLEASE NOTE: The following data sets should be acknowledged:

TOWER:

Shen, X., Walker, J.P., Ye, N., Wu, X., F. Brakhasi, Boopathi, N., Zhu, L., Yeo, I.Y., Kim, E., Kerr, Y., & Jackson, T. (2022). Evaluation of tau-omega model over bare and wheat-covered flat and periodic soil surfaces at P- and L-band. Remote Sensing of Environment, 273, 112960.

Shen, X., Walker, J.P., Ye, N., Wu, X., F. Brakhasi, Boopathi, N., Zhu, L., Yeo, I.Y., Kim, E., Kerr, Y., & Jackson, T. (2022). Impact of random and periodic surface roughness on P- and L-band radiometry. Remote Sensing of Environment, 269, 112825.

Shen, X., Walker, J.P., Ye, N., Wu, X., Boopathi, N., Yeo, I.Y., Zhang, L., & Zhu, L. (2021). Soil moisture retrieval depth of P- and L-band radiometry: predictions and observations. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 59, 6814-6822.