Developing a drought-monitoring index for the contiguous US using SMAP
<p>Since April 2015, NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission has monitored near-surface soil moisture, mapping the globe (between 85.044<span class="inline-formula"><sup>∘</sup></span> N/S) using an L-band (1.4 GHz) microw...
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doaj-8c13a56296644919ad054bd5f77539c52020-11-25T01:14:55ZengCopernicus PublicationsHydrology and Earth System Sciences1027-56061607-79382018-12-01226611662610.5194/hess-22-6611-2018Developing a drought-monitoring index for the contiguous US using SMAPS. Sadri0E. F. Wood1M. Pan2Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, 59 Olden St, Princeton, NJ 08540, USADepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, 59 Olden St, Princeton, NJ 08540, USADepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, 59 Olden St, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA<p>Since April 2015, NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission has monitored near-surface soil moisture, mapping the globe (between 85.044<span class="inline-formula"><sup>∘</sup></span> N/S) using an L-band (1.4 GHz) microwave radiometer in 2–3 days depending on location. Of particular interest to SMAP-based agricultural applications is a monitoring product that assesses the SMAP near-surface soil moisture in terms of probability percentiles for dry and wet conditions. However, the short SMAP record length poses a statistical challenge for meaningful assessment of its indices. This study presents initial insights about using SMAP for monitoring drought and pluvial regions with a first application over the contiguous United States (CONUS). SMAP soil moisture data from April 2015 to December 2017 at both near-surface (5 cm) SPL3SMP, or Level 3, at <span class="inline-formula">∼36</span> km resolution, and root-zone SPL4SMAU, or Level 4, at <span class="inline-formula">∼9</span> km resolution, were fitted to beta distributions and were used to construct probability distributions for warm (May–October) and cold (November–April) seasons. To assess the data adequacy and have confidence in using short-term SMAP for a drought index estimate, we analyzed individual grids by defining two filters and a combination of them, which could separate the 5815 grids covering CONUS into passed and failed grids. The two filters were (1) the Kolmogorov–Smirnov (KS) test for beta-fitted long-term and the short-term variable infiltration capacity (VIC) land surface model (LSM) with 95 % confidence and (2) good correlation (<span class="inline-formula">≥0.4</span>) between beta-fitted VIC and beta-fitted SPL3SMP. To evaluate which filter is the best, we defined a mean distance (MD) metric, assuming a VIC index at 36 km resolution as the ground truth. For both warm and cold seasons, the union of the filters – which also gives the best coverage of the grids throughout CONUS – was chosen to be the most reliable filter. We visually compared our SMAP-based drought index maps with metrics such as the U.S. Drought Monitor (from D0–D4), 1-month Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) and near-surface VIC from Princeton University. The root-zone drought index maps were shown to be similar to those produced by the root-zone VIC, 3-month SPI, and the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE). This study is a step forward towards building a national and international soil moisture monitoring system without which quantitative measures of drought and pluvial conditions will remain difficult to judge.</p>https://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/22/6611/2018/hess-22-6611-2018.pdf |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
S. Sadri E. F. Wood M. Pan |
spellingShingle |
S. Sadri E. F. Wood M. Pan Developing a drought-monitoring index for the contiguous US using SMAP Hydrology and Earth System Sciences |
author_facet |
S. Sadri E. F. Wood M. Pan |
author_sort |
S. Sadri |
title |
Developing a drought-monitoring index for the contiguous US using SMAP |
title_short |
Developing a drought-monitoring index for the contiguous US using SMAP |
title_full |
Developing a drought-monitoring index for the contiguous US using SMAP |
title_fullStr |
Developing a drought-monitoring index for the contiguous US using SMAP |
title_full_unstemmed |
Developing a drought-monitoring index for the contiguous US using SMAP |
title_sort |
developing a drought-monitoring index for the contiguous us using smap |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
series |
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences |
issn |
1027-5606 1607-7938 |
publishDate |
2018-12-01 |
description |
<p>Since April 2015, NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive
(SMAP) mission has monitored near-surface soil moisture, mapping the globe
(between 85.044<span class="inline-formula"><sup>∘</sup></span> N/S) using an L-band
(1.4 GHz) microwave radiometer in 2–3 days depending on location. Of
particular interest to SMAP-based agricultural applications is a monitoring
product that assesses the SMAP near-surface soil moisture in terms of
probability percentiles for dry and wet conditions. However, the short SMAP
record length poses a statistical challenge for meaningful assessment of its
indices. This study presents initial insights about using SMAP for monitoring
drought and pluvial regions with a first application over the contiguous
United States (CONUS). SMAP soil moisture data from April 2015 to December
2017 at both near-surface (5 cm) SPL3SMP, or Level 3, at <span class="inline-formula">∼36</span> km
resolution, and root-zone SPL4SMAU, or Level 4, at <span class="inline-formula">∼9</span> km resolution,
were fitted to beta distributions and were used to construct probability
distributions for warm (May–October) and cold (November–April) seasons. To
assess the data adequacy and have confidence in using short-term SMAP for a
drought index estimate, we analyzed individual grids by defining two filters
and a combination of them, which could separate the 5815 grids covering CONUS
into passed and failed grids. The two filters were (1) the
Kolmogorov–Smirnov (KS) test for beta-fitted long-term and the short-term
variable infiltration capacity (VIC) land surface model (LSM)
with 95 % confidence and (2) good correlation (<span class="inline-formula">≥0.4</span>) between beta-fitted VIC and
beta-fitted SPL3SMP. To evaluate which filter is the best, we defined a mean
distance (MD) metric, assuming a VIC index at 36 km resolution as the
ground truth. For both warm and cold seasons, the union of the filters –
which also gives the best coverage of the grids throughout CONUS – was
chosen to be the most reliable filter. We visually compared our SMAP-based
drought index maps with metrics such as the U.S. Drought Monitor (from
D0–D4), 1-month Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) and near-surface VIC from
Princeton University. The root-zone drought index maps were shown to be
similar to those produced by the root-zone VIC, 3-month SPI,
and the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE). This study is a step forward towards building a
national and international soil moisture monitoring system without which
quantitative measures of drought and pluvial conditions will remain difficult
to judge.</p> |
url |
https://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/22/6611/2018/hess-22-6611-2018.pdf |
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AT ssadri developingadroughtmonitoringindexforthecontiguousususingsmap AT efwood developingadroughtmonitoringindexforthecontiguousususingsmap AT mpan developingadroughtmonitoringindexforthecontiguousususingsmap |
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