Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID DC_2024_Farhadi

Assimilation of Land Surface Temperature and Moisture into a Soil Moisture-Temperature Model for Retrieving Farm-Scale Root Zone Soil Moisture

Institute: District of Columbia
Year Established: 2024 Start Date: 2024-09-01 End Date: 2025-08-31
Total Federal Funds: $14,999 Total Non-Federal Funds: $15,000

Principal Investigators: Leila Farhadi

Project Summary: This project focuses on using satellite data to estimate soil moisture, which is important for various applications like crop yield prediction and drought monitoring. While satellite data is commonly used for surface soil moisture estimation, it's not often used for estimating soil moisture deeper underground. The researchers propose a new method to use satellite data along with a soil moisture model to estimate soil moisture and soil properties at deeper levels. They plan to combine data from different satellites to create a framework that can estimate soil moisture and properties accurately at a field scale without relying on on-site measurements. They will test their method using simulated data from a specific area within the Anacostia River watershed. This testing phase will help improve their algorithms and techniques, making their estimates more accurate and reliable. Ultimately, their goal is to develop a tool that can provide valuable information about soil moisture and properties, helping with various environmental and agricultural management tasks.