Notes from the Field

Vegetation Sampling

June 24th, 2012 by Brian Campbell

Jacqueline Freeman
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Here are some photos from my veg team. They were taken today and show just some of the activities we perform during a vegetation sampling day.

Measuring crop height and diameter

The first image is of Saeid and myself measuring crop height and diameter and recording all of the info onto a field sheet. Each field has 3 pre-determined sampling points where all measurements are taken. Then vegetation is collected in labelled paper bags, and then sealed in plastic bags which we transport to the lab crew situated at Ma’s Drive-In in Elm Creek. Samples are then weighed (wet) and dried for about 2 days and weighed again (dry). The lab crew also separates the plant parts (leaves, stems) and weighs and dries those to determine where the bulk of the moisture is held within the plant.

 

For more SMAPVEX12 vegetation sampling information and pictures, visit the SMAP Blogs from the Field site.

Crop Structure Sampling

June 18th, 2012 by Brian Campbell

Narendra Das
Jet Propulsion Laboratory

 

During the SMAPVEX12 campaign measurements are being made simultaneously by airborne remote sensing instruments (PALS and UAVSAR) and by in situ sampling of the field sites. Measurements of the vegetation/crop structure characteristics and attributes during the vegetation growth phases are an important part of the data collection.

Crop structure measurements collected during the campaign will be used to calibrate and validate (cal/val) the SMAP radar forward models (radar backscatter is highly sensitive to vegetation structure). For this purpose most of the landcover types available in the SMAPVEX12 study domain are being sampled to obtain vegetation/crop structure information.

Fig 1. Canola field-124, Date: 06-07-2012.

 

Fig 2. Canola field-124, Date: 06-16-2012

For more information. visit the SMAP Blogs from the Field site.

On the Twin Otter

June 16th, 2012 by Brian Campbell

Andreas Colliander
Jet Propulsion Laboratory

On the second science data acquisition flight of PALS (on June 12) I got to fly on board the Twin Otter aircraft for the flight segment after the mid-day refueling stop at Winnipeg airport. Due to the minimal requirement for a second PALS operator on this flight I took Ian’s place on the plane while Seth continued to be in charge of the PALS instrument operation.

The day was beautiful, the skies mostly clear and the ride very smooth (the going can easily get bumpy on a small plane like the Twin Otter) at about 8500 ft altitude as planned for this flight.

Forest and pasture region at the northern end of the experiment area.

 

Bubble windows allow an extra-aircraft perspective and a look straight down

 

To read more and see more images, visit the SMAP Blogs from the Field site.