This research attempts to develop a methodology to estimate soil moisture content from current weather station radar data (NEXRAD – WSR-88D) used by the National Weather Service (NWS). The overall goal of the experiment design is to establish a method of developing high-resolution soil moisture maps that are timely, up to date, easily accessible, and that can be produced at low cost. The rapid availability of soil moisture data will also be an extremely useful data set for hydrological, climatic, meteorological, agricultural, and biogeochemical models. The specific objectives of this research are to (1) derive the soil moisture component from the mass balance equation using rain gauge, (2) combine remote sensing and mass-balance techniques together i.e. derive the soil moisture component from the mass balance equation using precipitation data from NEXRAD-WSR-88D, and (3) to refine the soil moisture map using soils and landuse data and change detection analysis in a GIS. The Oklahoma Mesonet, which contains 160 soil moisture data collection sites, will be used for accuracy assessment. The overall results of this research are expected to establish the validity of future soil moisture estimation using WSR-88D real-time data. The ability to estimate soil moisture content easily, reliably and in timely fashion will improve predictions from various types of modeling situations.

Funded provided by: USDA-CSREES Prime Agreement # 2001-35102-10830 Subcontract # UA AES 2001-118