THE INNOVATION OF THE AGRICULTURAL SOIL MOISTURE AND IRRIGATION STATUS (A SOM IS) PLATFORM IS THE DEVELOPME…

Public award description

THE INNOVATION OF THE AGRICULTURAL SOIL MOISTURE AND IRRIGATION STATUS (A SOM IS) PLATFORM IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF OPERATIONAL AND MODERATE RESOLUTION MAPPING AND ASSESSMENT OF SOIL MOISTURE, IRRIGATION STATUS (IRRIGATED VS NOT), AND CROP WATER STRESS METRICS AT FIELD SCALE FOR AGRICULTURAL DECISION SUPPORT TOOLS. THE PLATFORM FOCUSES ON UTILIZATION OF SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR (SAR) AND BLENDS SAR WITH HARMONIZED LANDSAT-8 AND SENTINEL-2 ( HLS ) DURING PHASE 1. DURING PHASE 2 AND FORWARD, ASOMIS IS GEARED AT PLANNED MISSIONS INCLUDING LANDSAT-9, ECOSTRESS (ECOSYSTEM SPACEBORNE THERMAL RADIOMETER EXPERIMENT ON SPACE STATION), AND NASA-ISRO SAR (NISAR). THIS SBIR IS DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO NASA; HELPS ADDRESS A SHORTCOMING OF SMAP DUE TO SENSOR FAILURE DEVELOPS A DIRECT PIPELINE BETWEEN NASA AND USDA PROGRAMS ARS / SCAN / LTAR SUPPORTS DEVELOPMENT OF ECOSTRESS AND NISAR MISSIONS SUPPORTS NEW NASA PROGRAMS AND APPLIED SCIENCES PRIORITIES (EOFSAC, AGRICULTURE, WATER RESOURCES) HELPS BRIDGE THE GAP OF WITHIN EXISTING DECISION SUPPORT TOOLS WITH OPERATIONAL FIELD SCALE METRICS OF SOIL MOISTURE, IRRIGATION STATUS, AND CROP WATER STRESS BUILDS ON PRIOR SUCCESS AND LINEAGE WITH GROWING PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS ASOMIS USES OPERATIONAL EARTH OBSERVATIONS AND MULTI-SCALE FUSION TECHNIQUES TO MAP SOIL MOISTURE, IRRIGATION STATUS, AND CROP WATER STRESS METRICS AT MODERATE RESOLUTION (<30M) OR FIELD SCALE . THIS IS A HUGE GAP IN EXISTING DECISION SUPPORT TOOLS AND FOOD SECURITY PROGRAMS. OPPORTUNITIES TO LEVERAGE NEW OPERATIONAL SENTINEL-1 C-BAND AND PLANNED L-BAND AND P-BAND SAR MISSIONS (NISAR, BIOMASS) AND THERMAL OBSERVATIONS (ECOTRESS) ARE A GAME CHANGER. FURTHER, THE ABILITY TO FUSE HARMONIZED LANDSAT-8 AND SENTINEL-2 ( HLS ) WITH MODIS / VIIRS FOR NEAR DAILY MONITORING OF EVAPOTRANSPIRATION (ET) AT MODERATE SCALE USING CLOUD COMPUTING AND ROBUST FUSION TECHNIQUES HAS CREATED AN EXCITING CONCEPT FOR THE AGRICULTURAL COMMUNITY TO ADVANCE FIELD SCALE MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT.