Project Number: 1265-13610-027-03
Project Type: Reimbursable

Start Date: May 01, 2007
End Date: May 01, 2010

Objective:
Interaction of the land surface and the atmosphere are not well understood and this currently limits the accuracy of weather and climate forecasts relevant to agriculture. A field experiment called the Cloud Land Atmospheric Interaction Campaign (CLASIC) will include a focus on the role of soil moisture in these processes. These efforts will determine the level up-scaling/aggregation required in order to understand the impact of landscape changes affecting energy balance/flux partitioning and impact on cloud/atmospheric dynamics.

Approach:
A one month field campaign will be conducted in the Southern Great Plains region of Oklahoma. Intensive soil moisture observations will be made for specific regions within the domain using in-situ networks and new aircraft sensors. These efforts will complement research on a future satellite soil moisture satellite. Regional passive microwave mapping of soil moisture will be conducted using a high altitude aircraft, which will be complemented by satellite studies.