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.
For more information. visit the SMAP Blogs from the Field site.
Tags: crops, NASA, PALS, SMAP, soil moisture