Spatial patterns of soil moisture for the FIFE study area derived from remotely sensed and ground data

Soil moisture observations were made over the First International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP) Field Experiment (FIFE) study area in 1987 and 1989 using a variety of ground and airborne techniques. A procedure is described for deriving spatial patterns of soil moisture by combining these different data types. The spatial patterns of soil moisture are represented as both contour and grid values so that they can be readily incorporated in other FIFE studies. Two examples are given that illustrate the utility of these soil moisture maps for remote sensing and hydrometeorological studies over the FIFE study area.