Peggy O’Neill, NASA GSFC, Code 614.3 IGARSS’10, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 2010

The NASA The NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive Soil Moisture Active Passive

(SMAP) Mission: (SMAP) Mission: OverviewOverview

Peggy O’Neill, NASA GSFCPeggy O’Neill, NASA GSFCDara Entekhabi, MITDara Entekhabi, MITEni Njoku, JPL Eni Njoku, JPL Kent Kellogg, JPL Kent Kellogg, JPL

Peggy O’Neill, NASA GSFC, Code 614.3 IGARSS’10, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 2010

“Earth Science and Applications from Space: National Imperatives for the next Decade and Beyond”

(National Research Council, 2007) http://www.nap.edu

SMAP is one of four Tier-1 missions SMAP is one of four Tier-1 missions recommended by the U.S. NRC Earth recommended by the U.S. NRC Earth Science Decadal SurveyScience Decadal Survey

Tier 1:

Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP)

ICESAT II

DESDynI

CLARREO

Tier 2:

SWOT

HYSPIRI

ASCENDS

GEO-CAFE

ACE

Tier 3:

LIST

PATH

GRACE-II

SCLP

GACM

3D-WINDS

Mission Context

• SMAP was initiated by NASA as a new start mission in February 2008

• SMAP is now in Phase B as of February 2010

• The target launch date for SMAP is November 2014 (subject to budgetary constraints)

Peggy O’Neill, NASA GSFC, Code 614.3 IGARSS’10, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 2010

Science Objectives

SMAP will provide high-resolution, frequent-revisit global mapping of soil moisture and freeze/thaw state to enable science and applications users to:

• Understand processes that link the terrestrial water, energy and carbon cycles

• Estimate global water and energy fluxes at the land surface

• Quantify net carbon flux in boreal landscapes

• Enhance weather and climate forecast skill

Freeze/thaw state

• Develop improved flood prediction and drought monitoring capability

Peggy O’Neill, NASA GSFC, Code 614.3 IGARSS’10, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 2010

Predictability of seasonal climate is dependent on boundary conditions such as sea surface temperature (SST) and soil moisture – soil moisture is particularly important over continental interiors.

Difference in Summer Rainfall: 1993 (flood) minus 1988 (drought) years

Observations

Prediction driven by SST and soil moisturePrediction driven just by SST

-5 0 +5 Rainfall Difference [mm/day]

(Schubert et al., 2002)

New space-based soil moisture observations and data assimilation modeling can improve forecasts of local storms and seasonal climate anomalies

With Realistic Soil Moisture

24-Hours Ahead High-Resolution

Atmospheric Model Forecasts

Observed Rainfall0000Z to 0400Z 13/7/96(Chen et al., 2001)

Buffalo CreekBasin

High resolution soil moisture data High resolution soil moisture data will improve numerical weather will improve numerical weather prediction (NWP) over continents by prediction (NWP) over continents by accurately initializing land surface accurately initializing land surface statesstates

Without Realistic Soil Moisture

NWP Rainfall PredictionNWP Rainfall Prediction

Seasonal Climate PredictabilitySeasonal Climate Predictability

Value of Soil Moisture Data to Weather and ClimateValue of Soil Moisture Data to Weather and Climate

Peggy O’Neill, NASA GSFC, Code 614.3 IGARSS’10, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 2010

Peggy O’Neill, NASA GSFC, Code 614.3 IGARSS’10, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 2010

Measurement Approach

• Instruments: Radiometer: L-band (1.4 GHz)

– V, H, 3rd & 4th Stokes parameters

– 40 km resolution

– Moderate resolution soil moisture (high accuracy )

Radar: L-band (1.26 GHz)– VV, HH, HV polarizations

– 3 km resolution (SAR mode); 30 x 5 km resolution (real-aperture mode)

– High resolution soil moisture (moderate accuracy) and Freeze/Thaw state detection

Shared Antenna– 6-m diameter deployable mesh antenna

– Conical scan at 14.6 rpm

– Constant incidence angle: 40 degrees

-- 1000 km-wide swath

-- Swath and orbit enable 2-3 day global revisit

• Orbit:

-- Sun-synchronous, 6 am/pm, 680 km altitude

-- 8-day exact repeat

• Mission Operations: -- 3-year baseline mission

-- Launch in November 2014

Peggy O’Neill, NASA GSFC, Code 614.3 IGARSS’10, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 2010

• Radiometer – Provided by GSFC– Leverages off Aquarius

radiometer design– Includes RFI mitigation

(spectral filtering)

• Common 6 m spinning reflector – Enables global coverage in 2-3

days– Spin Assembly and Reflector

Boom Assembly have extensive heritage

• Radar– Provided by JPL– Leverages off past JPL L-band

science radar designs– RFI mitigation through tunable

frequencies & ground processing

Radiometer is spun-side mounted to

reduce losses

Radar is fixed-mounted to reduce spun inertia

SPUN INSTRUMENT ASSEMBLY

Instrument Overview

[Talk # 2 this session – Spencer et al. on instruments]

[Talk # 3 this session – Johnson et al. on RFI]

Peggy O’Neill, NASA GSFC, Code 614.3 IGARSS’10, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 2010

* Mean latency under normal operating conditions. Latency defined as time from data acquisition by instrument to availability to designated archive. The SMAP project will make a best effort to reduce these latencies.

SMAP Data Products Table(Publicly Available)

Data ProductShort Name

Short DescriptionSpatial

ResolutionGrid

SpacingLatency*

L1A_Radar Radar raw data in time order NA NA 12 hours

L1A_Radiometer Radiometer raw data in time order NA NA 12 hours

L1B_S0_LoRes Low resolution radar σo in time order 5x30 km NA 12 hours

L1B_TB Radiometer TB in time order 40 km NA 12 hours

L1C_S0_HiRes High resolution radar σo (half orbit, gridded) 1x1 km to 1x30 km

1 km 12 hours

L1C_TB Radiometer TB (half orbit, gridded) 40 km 36 km 12 hours

L2_SM_P Soil moisture (radiometer, half orbit) 40 km 36 km 24 hours

L2_SM_A/P Soil moisture (radar/radiometer, half orbit) 9 km 9 km 24 hours

L3_F/T_A Freeze/thaw state (radar, daily composite) 3 km 3 km 48 hours

L3_SM_P Soil moisture (radiometer, daily composite) 40 km 36 km 48 hours

L3_SM_A/P Soil moisture (radar/radiometer, daily composite) 9 km 9 km 48 hours

L4_SM Soil moisture (surface & root zone) 9 km 9 km 7 days

L4_C Carbon net ecosystem exchange (NEE) 9 km 1 km 14 days

Peggy O’Neill, NASA GSFC, Code 614.3 IGARSS’10, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 2010

L3_SM_A/PL3_SM_A/P CombinedSoil Moisture Product (9 km)

L2_SM_PL2_SM_P Radiometer Soil Moisture Product (36 km)

L2_SM_AL2_SM_A Radar Soil Moisture Product (3 km)

L1C_S0_Hi-ResL1C_S0_Hi-Res Radar Backscatter Product (1-3 km)

L1C_TBL1C_TB Radiometer Brightness Temperature Product (36 km)

Algorithm Evaluation In Progress Using SMAP End-to-End Science Simulation Testbed

Peggy O’Neill, NASA GSFC, Code 614.3 IGARSS’10, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 2010

Level 4 Soil Moisture and Carbon Simulated Products

Volumetric Soil Moisture (%)

Level 4 Soil Moisture(Surface and Root Zone estimates)

Mean Daily Net CO2 Exchange

Peggy O’Neill, NASA GSFC, Code 614.3 IGARSS’10, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 2010

SMAP Applications

• A primary goal of the SMAP Mission is to engage SMAP end users and build broad support for SMAP applications through a transparent and inclusive process

• Toward that goal, the SMAP Mission:

– formed the SMAP Applications Working Group

– currently over 150 members

– open to everyone, register at http://smap.jpl.nasa.gov/science/applicWG

– held the 1st SMAP Applications Workshop, Sept 9-10, 2009 at NOAA Silver Spring MD

– will form the basis for the SMAP Applications Plan

• Presentation this morning on “Fostering Application Opportunities for the NASA SMAP Mission”

Peggy O’Neill, NASA GSFC, Code 614.3 IGARSS’10, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 2010

SMAP OBJECTIVES

POTENTIAL SMAP APPLICATIONS

WeatherNatural Disasters

Climate Variability & Change

Agriculture & Forestry

Human Health EcologyWater Resources

Ocean Resources

Soil moisture and freeze-thaw information for water, energy and carbon cycle processes

More accurate weather forecasts; prediction of severe rainfall; operational severe weather forecasts; mobility and visibility

Drought early warning decision support; key variable in floods and landslides; operational flood forecast; lake and river ice breakup; desertification

Extend climate prediction capability; Linkages between terrestrial water, energy, and carbon cycles; land / atmos. fluxes

Predictions of agricultural productivity; famine early warning; Monitoring agricultural drought

Landscape epidemiology; heat stress and drought monitoring; insect infestation; emergency response plans

Carbon source/sink monitoring; Ecosystems forecasts; monitoring vegetation and water relationships over land

Global water balance; estimates of streamflow & river discharge; more effective management

Sea-ice mapping for navigation, especially in coastal zones; temporal changes in ocean salinity

Fire susceptibility; global flood mapping; heat-wave forecasting

Crop management at the farm scale; Input to fuel loading models

Monitoring wetlands resources and bird migration

Monitoring variability of water stored in lakes, reservoirs, wetlands and river channels

Ocean wind speed and direction, related to hurricane monitoring

= likely mission application = potential mission application

Potential Applications Identified at the SMAP Applications Workshop, Sept 2009

[Talk #5 this session – Crow et al. on SMAP testbed]

Peggy O’Neill, NASA GSFC, Code 614.3 IGARSS’10, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 2010

Engagement w/Community

• Community workshops held and planned:– 1st SMAP Algorithms & Cal/Val Workshop:

June 9-11, 2009, Oxnard, CA

– 1st SMAP Applications Workshop: September 9-10, 2009, Silver Spring, MD

– 2nd SMAP Algorithms Workshop: March 5, 2010, Wash., DC (after MicroRad 2010)

– 2nd Cal/Val Workshop in May 2011

-- http://smap.jpl.nasa.gov/science/workshops/

• SMAP Applications Plan (draft) in preparation (Contact: molly.brown@nasa.gov or susan.moran@ars.usda.gov )

• SMAP Cal/Val Plan (draft) in preparation, incorporating recent inputs from:– SMAP Cal/Val Working Group activities (In Situ Testbed, Core Sites) – Workshop tentatively scheduled for May 2011 in Oxnard– Coordination with other international programs and missions (CSA, SMOS, Aquarius) (Contact: T. Jackson - tom.jackson@ars.usda.gov)

Peggy O’Neill, NASA GSFC, Code 614.3 IGARSS’10, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 2010

Approach

ATBDs have identified activities that will improve SMAP algorithms:• Satellite Products – AMSR-E, SMOS, Aquarius

• Field Campaigns

-- Past: SGP, SMEX, SMAPVEX08 . . .

-- Ongoing: CanEx (Canada), SMAPEx (Australia), SJV (California)

-- Future: SMAPVEX

Establish infrastructure necessary for post-launch Cal/Val:

• In situ sensor testbed, tower & aircraft SMAP simulators, core validation sites • Other collaboration [Talk #4 this session – Jackson et al. on cal/val]

SMAP Cal/Val: Pre-Launch Activities

CanEX (wet) – June 2010 SMAPEx-1 (winter) – July 2010 SJV (orchards) – Summer 2010

Peggy O’Neill, NASA GSFC, Code 614.3 IGARSS’10, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 2010

Synergistic Data and Experience from SMOS and Aquarius

• SMAP complements SMOS and Aquarius:• Extends global L-band radiometry beyond these missions (yields

long-duration land hydroclimate soil moisture datasets)

• Significantly increases the spatial resolution of soil moisture data

• Adds characterization of freeze thaw state for carbon cycle science

• Adds substantial instrument and processing mitigations to reduce science degradation and loss from terrestrial RFI

• SMAP benefits from strong mutual science team members’ engagements in missions• SMOS & Aquarius data are important for SMAP’s algorithm

development

• SMAP will collaborate in and extend SMOS & Aquarius Cal-Val campaigns

• SMOS and Aquarius will provide valuable data on the global terrestrial RFI environment which is useful to SMAP

Mission LRD Measurement Instrument Complement

Resolution/Revisit

SMOS Nov ’09 Soil MoistureOcean Salinity

L-band Radiometer 50 km / 3 days

Aquarius Apr ’11 Ocean SalinitySoil Moisture (experimental)

L-band Radiometer, Scatterometer

100 km / 7 days

SMAP Nov’14 * Soil MoistureFreeze/Thaw State

L-band Radiometer, SAR (unfocused)

10 km / 2-3 days

SMOS (ESA)2009 Launch

Aquarius2011 LRD

SMAP2014 LRD

Peggy O’Neill, NASA GSFC, Code 614.3 IGARSS’10, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 2010

Summary

• SMAP provides high-resolution and frequent-revisit global mapping of soil moisture and freeze/thaw state that has:

– Science value for Water, Carbon and Energy Cycles

– Applications benefits in Operational Weather, Flood & Drought Monitoring, other areas

– Addresses priority questions on Climate and Climate Change

– NOAA, DoD, USDA, others are actively engaged with SMAP to develop an Applications Plan for using SMAP data after launch

– Science Definition Team has international participation: Canadian, British, Australian, French & Italian representatives

• SMAP will take advantage of precursor data from ESA’s SMOS mission

– SMOS radiometer-derived soil moisture at 40 km resolution will aid in SMAP algorithm development and global RFI assessment and mitigation

• CSA is partnering with SMAP for science, Cal/Val, and Applications development