Soil Moisture and Soil Temperature Observations and

Applications: A Joint U.S. Climate Reference

Network (USCRN) National Integrated Drought
Information System (NIDIS) Workshop, Oak Ridge,
TN, March 3-5, 2009
Bruce Baker NOAA/NCDC

SOIL MOISTURE
Is of the utmost importance
with other issues such as radiation, clouds
Because of its role in
evaporation
radiative and heat fluxes
vegetation albedo, moisture flux
sustaining life

And because it has been hard to address

There are many challenges to be

overcome in relation to soil moisture

In-situ Soil Moisture and Temperature Sensors

for USCRN FY09-10
Provide status of soil sensors deployment at USCRN
stations
Provide overview of soil sensors network across U.S.
Identify potential uses of in-situ soil sensors
Explore potential opportunities to integrate with similar
satellite measurements, other remote sensing
techniques, NIDIS, International community

mate Reference Network Station

nal-Level Climate Monitoring
(Cornell University, Ithaca, New York)
GOES DCS Satellite

or 3-wire weighing
pitation gauge with backup
e inside small DFIR fence and
e alter.

Relative Humidity in
Ventilated Radiation
Housing
Power Control

Radiation (Pyranometer)
Anemometer
Three High-Precision Platinum
Resistance Thermometers in
Individual Ventilated Radiation
Housings

Ground (IR)
Temperature
Wetness Sensor
Datalogger

Soil Moisture & Soil

Temperature (in test)

Geonor 3-wire all

weather weighing
precipitation gauge
inside small DFIR
fence and single
alter.

U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN)

All 114 Stations Installed/Operational End of FY 08

Installed 7 Pairs (14)

Installed Single (92)
Awaiting Installation (8)
Updated April 1, 2008

U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN)

Alaska Locations

Single sites installed (2): Pt. Barrow & Fairbanks

Single sites to be installed: FY 10-14 (27 locations)
GCOS single sites installed (2): Sitka & St. Paul Island

U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN)

Hawaiian Locations

Single sites installed at end FY 05 (2): Mauna Loa Summit, and Waiakea

Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors

U.S. Observing Networks known to have Soil Sensors

U.S. Department of Agricultures Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN)
http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/scan/
http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/scan/SCAN-brochure.pdf
National network of remotely located stations collect atmospheric measurements along
with soil moisture and soil temperature.
Total of five (5) sensors, one placed at 5,10,20,50, and 100 cm depths.
All stations have full soil survey characterization information.
Developed to provide near real-time soil-climate information for natural resource
planning, drought assessment, and water resource management.
Currently the network has 111 stations located in 39 states. Most stations have been
installed since 1999, following the completion of a 10-year soil moisture/soil temperature
pilot project.
Meteor burst communications technology provides data in near real-time.
Hourly data quickly made available to the public via the Internet.

USDA Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN)

Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors

Deployment to USCRN Stations
(NIDIS FY 08+ funded)
U.S. Observing Networks known to have Soil Sensors
NOAA/NWS Cooperative (Volunteer) Observing Network (COOP)
Of the present ~8,000 U.S. COOP stations, there are only 263 (262 reporting)
COOP stations that measure and report soil temperature (only).
Observations are archived as part of the COOP database at the NCDC.
Data is reported daily to weekly to monthly.
As a quality-controlled product it is not usually available for most uses until 46 months after the observations have been taken.
The utility of this data as a stand-alone dataset for operational use is limited
by its timeliness, spatial paucity, and the lack of the even more critical soil
moisture measurement.

NOAA Cooperative Observer Network

Soil Temperature Stations

Soil Sensors Map

USDA SCAN, NWS COOP, and NESDIS USCRN
(Deploy USCRN FY 08-12, 114 sites @ 107 locations)

Coop (Temp only ~263)

SCAN (Moisture & Temp ~111)
CRN (Moisture & Temp ~114 FY 08-12)
(06/16/06)

Additional 24 coop

U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN)

Alaska Locations
12/12/07
Red boxes indicates
USDA desire for
collocating soil sensors
at USCRN stations.

Single sites installed (2): Pt. Barrow & Fairbanks

Single sites to be installed: FY 10-14 (27 locations)
GCOS single sites installed (2): Sitka & St. Paul Island

U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN)

Alaska Locations
Red box
indicates
(2/25/08)
Permafrost
Temperature
Network
desire for
collocating
permafrost
temperature
sensors

at USCRN
stations
Single sites installed (2): Pt. Barrow & Fairbanks
Single sites to be installed: FY 10-14 (27 locations)
GCOS single sites installed (2): Sitka & St. Paul Island

Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors

Deployment to 114 USCRN Stations
(NIDIS FY 08+ funded)
U.S. Observing Networks known to have Soil Sensors
NOAA/OAR: Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX)
http://www.gewex.org/
U.S. contribution to GEWEX - ten (10) continental U.S. sites reflect the range of
ecosystems used for understanding climate forcing and the impact on the surface energy
balance.
Ground-based measurements of surface energy balance including sensible & latent
heat flux, ground heat flux, and net radiation (radiation measurements are not to BSRN
standards), turbulent fluxes of momentum and carbon dioxide.
Supporting observations: air temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed &
direction, surface wetness, soil temperatures (7 levels), soil moisture (5 levels) and
precipitation.
Data processed on a daily basis and disseminated to users and clients via FTP.
Calibration standards for radiation and temperature same as USCRN.
Additional capabilities: model development, especially those linked with satellite data
for determining the status of the land surface.

Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors

Deployment to USCRN Stations
(NIDIS FY 08+ funded)
Installation at Fort Peck, MT
August 31, 2006

Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors

Deployment to USCRN Stations
(NIDIS FY 08+ funded)
With Replicates

Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors

Deployment to USCRN Stations
(NIDIS FY 08+ funded)

Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors

Deployment to USCRN Stations
(NIDIS FY 08+ funded)

Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors

Deployment to USCRN Stations
(NIDIS FY 08+ funded)

Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors

Deployment to USCRN Stations
(NIDIS FY 08+ funded)
USCRN - 144 Stations across Lower 48 states
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/uscrn/

The sensor (Hydra) is the same used in

USDA/SCAN (Soil Climate and Analysis Network)
Meets established requirements for measurement
of soil moisture and soil temperature
Peer reviewed publications support operation of
the sensor

Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors

Deployment to USCRN Stations
(NIDIS FY 08+ funded)
Hydra Probe by Stevens Water
http://stevenswater.com
Hydra Probe technology has been
in use for 10 years in support of
NASA for ground truthing of
satellite data
The Hydra II sensor digital output
easily interfaces to dataloggers
used in USCRN (some are
currently deployed in GEWEX)

Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors

Deployment to USCRN Stations
(NIDIS FY 08+ funded)
This configuration optimizes the ability to characterize and quantify \
variability..
USCRN proposed vertical configuration (number and placement) of soil
moisture/soil temperature sensors (same as GEWEX) includes:
3 sensors at 5cm
3 sensors at 10cm
3 sensors at 20 cm
3 sensors at 50cm
3 ssensor at 100cm
Soil moisture, like many other soil measurements are subject to an
inherent natural variability that can only be assessed by replicate
sampling for in-situ measurement systems (quantify uncertainty)
Sensor redundancy helps to insure continuity of measurements for a
particular depth, if a particular sensor goes bad. (potentially decrease
network maintenance cost by the use of replicate measurements)

Soil Moisture/Temperature Sensors

Deployment to USCRN Stations
(NIDIS FY 08+ funded)
Will this configuration improve the ability to calculate the water
budget at these sites?
Yes the upper layers are the most variable and the uncertainty can be
quantified with the replicate measurements.
Will this additional information be of use to remote sensing??
Yes because the observed surface variability can be incorporated into
the data analyses for remote sensing calibrations.
Will this additional information be beneficial to the modeling of
this component?
Yes, definitely. There is no point refining a model beyond the degree of
uncertainty in the source or calibrations data and you have some
measure of data uncertainty.

Soil Probe Differences dry sand

Soil Probe Differences Wet Sand

Soil Probe Differences Water

DISCUSSION
- METADATA
- INSTALLATION PROCEDURES
- QA/QC
- WHERE SHOULD WE GO FIRST?
~40 STATIONS INSTALLED FY09
- TESTBEDS
- INTENSIVE CAMPAIGNS
- SAMPLING PROTOCOL