The University of Alabama – Snow and Soil Moisture Research

(NOAA Collaborators:Sam Contorno )

The University of Alabama (UA) Remote Sensing Center (RSC) will develop remote sensing technology, including sensors and algorithms, to perform fine- and large-scale measurements of snow and soil moisture. We will develop sensors, with initial focus on microwave sensors, for integration on manned and unmanned aircraft with the necessary signal processing and geophysical retrieval algorithms. The project team consists of faculty and staff with significant experience in developing and deploying radars for manned and unmanned aircraft, data collection and signal processing, generation of data products, and hydrology. 

The Remote Sensing Center, both with internal and external support, has made significant progress in developing radars and other instrumentation to perform fine-resolution snow measurements from manned aircraft. We have developed UWB radars operating over the frequency range of 2-18 GHz and integrated one of these radars on a Twin-Otter aircraft for snow measurements. We collected data on snow over Grand Mesa National Forest in Colorado in March 2019 and used these data to evaluate radar performance. The results showed that we can measure snow as thin as 3 cm and as thick as 350 cm with this radar.  These data collected in March 2019 are being processed to generate snow thickness maps over the grids flown. We expect the results to be ready for detailed comparison with in-situ measurements and distribution to the science community by the end of March 2020.  We also operated it over the sub-band of 2.7-10.7 GHz on snow over Grand Mesa during January 2020.  We have also developed a 1.2-1.4 GHz L-band radar that can be operated on a long-range aircraft for soil moisture measurements in the future.

This year, we will conduct two major field campaigns in Colorado to collect data over snow during January-February 2021 and March-April 2021. We will collect data with radars on manned aircraft and drones over bare and vegetated soils during June 2020-May 2021. We will plan data collection programs for soil moisture to collect data over a wide range of moisture conditions and with different types of vegetation. We will also collect in-situ data to calibrate and validate both snow and soil moisture results.  We will generate quick-look results within 24-48 hours after a flight is completed and results in about 9-12 months after the completion of a major field campaign.