SMAP: Soil, Moisture, Active, Passive

NASAs SMAP Project has its origins in Hydros, otherwise known as the Hydrosphere State Project. When Hydros was cancelled in 2005 due to NASA budget limitations, scientists came together to create SMAP and accomplish Hydros objectives. Similar to SMAP, Hydros was developed by NASAs Earth Science System Pathfinder program [ESSP} to provide global maps of the Earths soil moisture and freeze and thaw state every two to three days using an active and passive L band frequency.

The SMAP Project creates high-resolution maps of the entire Earths soil moisture and freeze and thaw state every two to three days. SMAP is both active and passive because it passively measures data from Earth using a thermal sensor and actively emits a signal that bounces off Earths surface. The data collected from SMAP can be applied in various ways. The application of soil moisture information can be used for better weather tracking and forecasting, more accurate agriculture productivity, early drought warnings, the extent of flood damage, as well as aid in human health and disease prevention. I was most interested in Erica Podests presentation where she mentioned SMAPs application for human health. SMAP has potential to help bring a lot of information to light and potentially save lives by allowing scientists to monitor and predict vector born disease and breakthroughs. By measuring the soil temperatures and air conditions it is possible to attain information on diseases such as malaria, from which health officials can take action as a prevention before it is too late.

SMAP uses a radiometer and synthetic aperture radar to measure soil moisture. As we learned from Wendy Edlestein, due to government restrictions the SMAP radar is only permitted to function at the L band frequency. With the increase in cell phones and technologies, this frequency generates a lot of interference, often limiting the clarity of NASAs results. It is also due to environmental concerns that NASA is limited to using the L band frequency, since a higher frequency would generate more heat and potential cause damage to the natural environment struck by its rays. The SMAP radar uses SAR processing technology to obtain the resolution of data necessary for the retrieval of soil moisture technologies. The radar is unique in its form because the antenna is rotated around in a cone pattern. As demonstrated from the time-lapse video of the point target simulator we watched at NASA, SMAPS radar design is successful. After hearing NASAs enthusiastic scientists speak about SMAP I am eager to see how its data will be applied, in ways we are yet unable  to imagine.