Comparison of In-Situ and Satellite-Derived Soil Moisture Observations under Different Types of Land Use and Land Cover in Oklahoma

Soil moisture is an important variable in the climate system, but because of its high spatial and temporal variability it can be difficult to measure. Satellites are useful for measuring soil moisture because they can provide homogeneous spatial coverage and a relatively high spatial and temporal resolution. However, the accuracy of satellite-based estimates of soil moisture can be influenced by factors such as atmospheric conditions, surface roughness, and land use/land cover. Therefore, it is necessary to validate the accuracy of satellite-based estimates of soil moisture using in-situ observations. The purpose of this study is to compare in-situ soil moisture observations derived from the Oklahoma Mesonet with soil moisture observations from the Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite to examine whether the accuracy of the satellite-estimated soil moisture varies as a function of land use/land cover (LULC). There are 30 locations with data spanning from October 2011-July 2012 across 4 (LULC) types. Expected results include differences between in-situ and satellite soil moisture observations over LULC sites. The largest differences will be found over cultivated crops and shrub/scrub locations and smaller differences will be found over grassland and pasture locations.