Soil Moisture
Soil moisture is a fundamental state variable in hydrology and the terrestrial water cycle. The L-band frequency range demonstrates high sensitivity to surface soil moisture, making it a valuable tool for measurement. NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), sets the standard for global soil moisture mapping, offering global coverage every three days.
SMAP Soil Moisture 8-day Composite (May 28 - June 4, 2019)
Four-panel illustration, suing SMAP data, of the seasonal variability of soil moisture in two areas in Cameroon, area A just South of the northern city of Garoua (with Lake Lagdo showing up in black around the Benue river) approaching the end of the dry season, and area B around the town of Bangangté (lower right of center in the panels) and the southeastern portions of the city of Bafoussam (upper left in the panels) at the beginning of the wet season.
Xiaolan Xu
Xiaolan Xu(Senior Member, IEEE) received her B.Eng. degree from Zhejiang University in China in 2006 and continued her academic journey at the University of Washington, Seattle, where she completed her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering in 2008 and 2011, respectively. As a postdoctoral research associate, Dr. Xu joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and later became a scientist in 2014. Her expertise revolves around microwave remote sensing forward modeling, retrieval algorithm development, and GNSS reflectometry. Her work concentrates on enhancing the understanding of electromagnetic wave propagation and scattering across diverse terrestrial environments, including snow-covered terrains, vegetated land surfaces, and various soil condition. She currently serve on the Science Team for NASA Soil Moisture Active and Passive Mission and Ku-band Radar mission supported by Canadian Space Agency. Additionally, she is involved in developing next-generation InSAR instruments for surface deformation and change detection and its application in hydrology.
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