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Soil Moisture Profiles and Temperature Data from SoilSCAPE Sites, Version 2

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Documentation Revision Date: 2024-02-13

Dataset Version: 2

Summary

This dataset contains in-situ soil moisture profile and soil temperature data collected at 30-minute intervals at SoilSCAPE (Soil moisture Sensing Controller and oPtimal Estimator) project sites since 2021 in the United States and New Zealand. The SoilSCAPE network has used wireless sensor technology to acquire high temporal resolution soil moisture and temperature data over varying durations since 2011. Since 2021, the SoilSCAPE has upgraded the two previously active sites in Arizona and added several new sites in the United States and New Zealand. These new sites typically use the METER Teros-12 soil moisture sensor. At its maximum, the new network consisted of 57 wireless sensor installations (nodes), with a range of 6 to 8 nodes per site. Each SoilSCAPE site contains multiple wireless end-devices (EDs). Each ED supports up to five soil moisture probes typically installed at 5, 10, 20, and 30 cm below the surface. Sites in Arizona have soil moisture probes installed at up to 75 cm below the surface. Soil conditions (e.g., hard soil or rocks) may have limited sensor placement. The data enables estimation of local-scale soil moisture at high temporal resolution and validation of remote sensing estimates of soil moisture at regional and national (e.g. NASA's Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System - CYGNSS and Soil Moisture Active Passive - SMAP) scales. The data are provided in NetCDF format.

This dataset includes 43 files in NetCDF (*.nc) format. 

Figure 1. Root zone soil moisture at 5, 15, and 30 cm depth for a node in Lucky Hills, AZ.

Citation

Melebari, A., R. Akbar, E. Hodges, D. Mckague, C.S. Ruf, A.R. Silva, M. Moghaddam, R. Shrestha, C.J. Lindsley, T.R. Walker, and B.E. Wilson. 2023. Soil Moisture Profiles and Temperature Data from SoilSCAPE Sites, Version 2. ORNL DAAC, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2049

Table of Contents

  1. Dataset Overview
  2. Data Characteristics
  3. Application and Derivation
  4. Quality Assessment
  5. Data Acquisition, Materials, and Methods
  6. Data Access
  7. References
  8. Dataset Revisions

Dataset Overview

This dataset contains in-situ soil moisture profile and soil temperature data collected at 30-minute intervals at SoilSCAPE (Soil moisture Sensing Controller and oPtimal Estimator) project sites since 2021 in the United States and New Zealand. The SoilSCAPE network has used wireless sensor technology to acquire high temporal resolution soil moisture and temperature data over varying durations since 2011. Since 2021, the SoilSCAPE has upgraded the two previously active sites in Arizona and added several new sites in the United States and New Zealand. These new sites typically use the METER Teros-12 soil moisture sensor. At its maximum, the new network consisted of 57 wireless sensor installations (nodes), with a range of 6 to 8 nodes per site. Each SoilSCAPE site contains multiple wireless end-devices (EDs). Each ED supports up to five soil moisture probes typically installed at 5, 10, 20, and 30 cm below the surface. Sites in Arizona have soil moisture probes installed at up to 75 cm below the surface. Soil conditions (e.g., hard soil or rocks) may have limited sensor placement.

The data enables estimation of local-scale soil moisture at high temporal resolution and validation of remote sensing estimates of soil moisture at regional and national (e.g. NASA's Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System - CYGNSS and Soil Moisture Active Passive - SMAP) scales.

Related DataSet

Moghaddam, M., A.R. Silva, D. Clewley, R. Akbar, S.A. Hussaini, J. Whitcomb, R. Devarakonda, R. Shrestha, R.B. Cook, G. Prakash, S.K. Santhana Vannan, and A.G. Boyer. 2017. Soil Moisture Profiles and Temperature Data from SoilSCAPE Sites, USA. ORNL DAAC, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1339

  • This dataset contains data from active SoilSCAPE sites in or prior to 2021. These measurements were typically collected using the EC-5 and 5-TM soil moisture sensors from Decagon Devices.

Related Publication: 

Akbar, R., J. Cambell, A.R. Silva, R. Chen, A. Melebari, and E. Hodges, D. Entekhabi, C. Ruf, and M. Moghaddam. 2020. "Soilscape Wireless in Situ Networks in Support of CYNGSS Land Applications," IGARSS 2020 - 2020 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2020, pp. 5042-5044, https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS39084.2020.9324648

Dorigo, W., I.  Himmelbauer, D. Aberer, L. Schremmer, I. Petrakovic, L. Zappa, W. Preimesberger, A. Xaver, F. Annor, J. Ardö, D. Baldocchi, D. Bitelli, G. Blöschl, H. Bogena, L. Brocca, J.-C. Calvet, J.J. Camarero, G. Capello, M. Choi, M.C. Cosh, N. van de Giesen, I. Hajdu, J. Ikonen, K.H. Jensen, K.D. Kanniah, I. de Kat, G. Kirchengast, P. Kumar Rai, J. Kyrouac, K. Larson, S. Liu, A. Loew, M. Moghaddam, J. Martínez Fernández, C. Mattar Bader, R. Morbidelli, J.P. Musial, E. Osenga, M.A. Palecki, T. Pellarin, G.P. Petropoulos, I. Pfeil, J. Powers, A. Robock, C. Rüdiger, U. Rummel, M. Strobel, Z. Su, R. Sullivan, T. Tagesson, A. Varlagin, M. Vreugdenhil, J. Walker, J. Wen, F. Wenger, J.P. Wigneron, M. Woods, K. Yang, Y. Zeng, X. Zhang, M. Zreda, S. Dietrich, A. Gruber, P. van Oevelen, W. Wagner, K. Scipal, M. Drusch, and R. Sabia. 2021. The International Soil Moisture Network: serving Earth system science for over a decade, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 5749–5804, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5749-2021

Data Characteristics

Spatial Coverage: USA and New Zealand.

Spatial resolution: Point Locations.

Temporal Coverage: These data cover the period 2021-12-03 to the present. Sampling is continuing at active sites, and data are updated weekly.

Temporal Resolution: 30 minutes

Study Area: (all latitudes and longitudes given in decimal degrees)

Site Westernmost Longitude Easternmost Longitude Northernmost Latitude Southernmost Latitude
USA -110.0532 174.5559 37.19538 -36.70378

Table 1. SoilSCAPE Sites. * Inactive sites.

Site Number of nodes Temperature Measured Start Date End Date Westernmost Longitude Easternmost Longitude Northernmost Latitude Southernmost Latitude
Kendall, AZ, USA 9 Yes 2022-08-17 - -109.946 -109.940 31.737 31.735
Lucky Hills, AZ, USA 7 Yes 2021-08-15 - -110.052 -110.053 31.744 31.742
CO-Z1, CO, USA 4 Yes 2021-12-03 - -105.996 -105.824 37.195 37.055
CO-Z4, CO, USA 1 Yes 2021-12-04 - -105.824 -105.824 37.055 37.055
JR-1, NM, USA 4 Yes 2022-05-04 - -106.740 -106.736 32.523 32.516
JR-2, NM, USA 5 Yes 2022-05-04 - -106.787 -106.778 32.592 32.589
JR-3, NM, USA 4 Yes 2022-05-04 - -106.741 -106.732 32.613 32.608
Ararimu, NZ 5 Yes 2022-4-20 - 174.555 174.553 -36.701 -36.703
Riverhead, NZ 3 Yes 2022-09-08 - 174.616 174.612 -36.746 -36.714
Wharekapua, NZ 5 Yes 2022-04-23 - 173.057 173.047 -34.717 -34.721

 

fig2

Figure 2. SoilSCAPE site locations.

Data File Information

This dataset includes 43 files in NetCDF format for 30-min interval data for soil moisture and soil temperature. The locations of the sites are provided in Table 1. The file names use the file naming convention of "soil_moist_30min_aaa_XX_nNNNN.nc" where aaa=Name of site (each site contains multiple notes); XX=State or country abbreviations (e.g. CO, NM, NZ); and NNNN is the Node ID (physicalid).

Table 2. Data fields.

Data Field Units Description
time minutes since 2011-01-01 Date and time of the data collection
physicalid   Physical identifier of the node
lat decimal degrees Latitude of the node
lon decimal degrees Longitude of the node
soil_moisture m3/m3 Volumetric soil moisture at various soil depths in m^3/m^3.
soil_quality_bit   A four-digit binary flag for soil moisture.
  • char 1 = if 1, Low Device Battery (< 3.2V)
  • char 2 = if 1, Sensor probe over current
  • char 3 = if 1, Sensor Not Detected
  • char 4 = if 1, Invalid Data
soil_quality_flag   One-digit soil moisture flag.
  • 0: Recommended for use
  • 1: Not recommended for use 
depth cm Depth at which the soil moisture and temperature sensors are placed
sensor   Type of the soil moisture sensor (e.g., Teros-12)
temperature degrees Celsius (C) Soil temperature at various soil depths 
temp_quality_bit   A four-digit binary flag for soil temperature.
  • char 1 = if 1, Low Device Battery (< 3.2V)
  • char 2 = if 1, Sensor probe over current
  • char 3 = if 1, Sensor Not Detected
  • char 4 = if 1, Invalid Data
temp_quality_flag   One-digit soil temperature flag.
  • 0:  Recommended for use
  • 1: Not recommended for use

Application and Derivation

This dataset can be used for:

(1) Generation of local scale estimates of soil moisture at high temporal resolution. The point measurements from the sensor are scaled up to regional level hydrological models to produce local estimates of soil moisture.

(2) Validation of remote sensing based estimates of soil moisture. Soil moisture information from various SoilSCAPE sites will be used by various NASA Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) Science Team members for soil moisture product calibration, validation, and assessment.

 

Quality Assessment

Uncertainty in the data was not quantified. 

Quality flags for soil moisture/temperature are provided in data files (0=recommended and 1 = not recommended for use). Additional quality bit information of the probe status are also provided as separate variables. For more details, see Table 2.

Data Acquisition, Materials, and Methods

The soil moisture sensors were typically METER Teros-12 installed at different depths (usually at 5, 10, 20, and 30 cm) below the soil surface. Sites in Arizona have soil moisture probes installed up to 75 cm below the surface. The sensor was held in place by fastening it to a t-post. We used flexible conduit to shield wires from both cattle and burrowing animals such as rodents and badgers.

The sensors communicated with a local coordinator which wirelessly sent the data to the data server located at the University of Southern California (Figure 3).

The optimal placement of the sensors in time and space is achieved using the steady-state soil moisture statistics and surface state distribution of soil moisture in the area of interest weighed against the cost of communication associated with the sensor placement. The system uses the wireless sensor architecture called Ripple (Silva et al., 2012), which has undergone a number of improvements over the years.

Figure 3. The wireless architecture of the SoilSCAPE network (Akbhar et al., 2020).

Data Access

These data are available through the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC).

Soil Moisture Profiles and Temperature Data from SoilSCAPE Sites, Version 2

Contact for Data Center Access Information:

References

Akbar, R., J. Cambell, A.R. Silva, R. Chen, A. Melebari, and E. Hodges, D. Entekhabi, C. Ruf, and M. Moghaddam. 2020. "Soilscape Wireless in Situ Networks in Support of Cyngss Land Applications," IGARSS 2020 - 2020 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2020, pp. 5042-5044, https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS39084.2020.9324648

Dorigo, W., I.  Himmelbauer, D. Aberer, L. Schremmer, I. Petrakovic, L. Zappa, W. Preimesberger, A. Xaver, F. Annor, J. Ardö, D. Baldocchi, D. Bitelli, G. Blöschl, H. Bogena, L. Brocca, J.-C. Calvet, J.J. Camarero, G. Capello, M. Choi, M.C. Cosh, N. van de Giesen, I. Hajdu, J. Ikonen, K.H. Jensen, K.D. Kanniah, I. de Kat, G. Kirchengast, P. Kumar Rai, J. Kyrouac, K. Larson, S. Liu, A. Loew, M. Moghaddam, J. Martínez Fernández, C. Mattar Bader, R. Morbidelli, J.P. Musial, E. Osenga, M.A. Palecki, T. Pellarin, G.P. Petropoulos, I. Pfeil, J. Powers, A. Robock, C. Rüdiger, U. Rummel, M. Strobel, Z. Su, R. Sullivan, T. Tagesson, A. Varlagin, M. Vreugdenhil, J. Walker, J. Wen, F. Wenger, J.P. Wigneron, M. Woods, K. Yang, Y. Zeng, X. Zhang, M. Zreda, S. Dietrich, A. Gruber, P. van Oevelen, W. Wagner, K. Scipal, M. Drusch, and R. Sabia. 2021. The International Soil Moisture Network: serving Earth system science for over a decade, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 5749–5804, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5749-2021 

Melebari, A. et al., "CYGNSS SoilSCAPE Sites: Sensor Calibration and Data Analysis," IGARSS 2023 - 2023 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Pasadena, CA, USA, 2023, pp. 4628-4630, https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS52108.2023.10282411

Moghaddam, M., D. Entekhabi, Y. Goykhman, K. Li, M. Liu, A. Mahajan, A. Nayyar, D. Shuman, and D. Teneketzis. 2010. A wireless soil moisture smart sensor web using physics-based optimal control: concept and initial demonstration IEEE-JSTARS, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 522-535, December 2010

Moghaddam, M., A.R. Silva, D. Clewley, R. Akbar, S.A. Hussaini, J. Whitcomb, R. Devarakonda, R. Shrestha, R.B. Cook, G. Prakash, S.K. Santhana Vannan, and A.G. Boyer. 2017. Soil Moisture Profiles and Temperature Data from SoilSCAPE Sites, USA. ORNL DAAC, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1339

Silva, A., M. Liu, and M. Moghaddam. 2012. Ripple-2 : A Non-Collaborative, Asynchronous, and Open Architecture for Highly-Scalable and Low Duty-Cycle WSNs. ACM MiSENET, August 2012, Istanbul, Turkey.

Thornton, P.E., M.M. Thornton, B.W. Mayer, Y. Wei, R. Devarakonda, R.S. Vose, and R.B. Cook. 2016. Daymet: Daily Surface Weather Data on a 1-km Grid for North America, Version 3. ORNL DAAC, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. http://dx.doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1328

Dataset Revisions

 

Version Description Published
2 This is the Version 2 release of the dataset, which contains data from active SoilSCAPE sites since 2021. These measurements were typically collected using the METER Teros-12 soil moisture sensor.
The data will continuously be updated on a weekly interval.		 2023-02-24
1 Soil Moisture Profiles and Temperature Data from SoilSCAPE Sites. This is the Version 1 release of the dataset which contains data from active SoilSCAPE sites in or prior to 2021. These measurements were typically collected using the EC-5 and 5-TM soil moisture sensors from Decagon Devices. 2016-09-16