Microwave radiometer observations of soil moisture in HAPEX-SAHEL

Water stored in the soil serves as the reservoir for the evapotranspiration process, thus the interest in trying to map its spatial and temporal variations in experiments studying the soil- plant-atmosphere interactions at the GCM grid scale. During the 8 week intensive observation period (IOP) of HAPEX-Sahel (Hydrologic Atmospheric Pilot Experiment in the Sahel), this was done with two airborne microwave radiometer systems. The five frequency (5 to 90 GHz) PORTOS radiometer on the French ARAT aircraft and the single frequency (1.42 GHz) multibeam pushbroom microwave radiometer (PBMR) on the NASA C-130 were used. These aircraft measurements were supported by ground based observations at the central sites and, because of several rains during the IOP, covered a good range of soil wetness conditions that existed. The PBMR and the 5.05 GHz PORTOS channel in H polarization show a large dynamic range of TB on each day and between different days in response to variations in rainfall and drying conditions ranging from low TBs of 210 to 220 K for the wettest conditions to values of 280 to 290 K for the driest.