Physics-Based, High Resolution Soil Strength Prediction

Effective Army-scale mobility predictions in austere environments require knowledge of soil strength conditions at high spatial resolution (100 m or less). The Army"s knowledge of the battlespace is greatly hindered because available weather-scale near-surface soil moisture data, a primary indicator of soil strength, is limited by its coarse spatial resolution (1-25 km). Moreover, there are no adequate methods currently available to bridge the gap between such weather-scale soil moisture data and sparse, highly localized point data (e.g., field measurements from local weather stations). Under this effort, Creare proposes to address this critical Army need by defining, developing, and evaluating innovative downscaling and upscaling algorithms for soil moisture and soil strength prediction embedded in a modular, extensible software framework. The resulting algorithms will provide the Army with accurate estimates of near-surface soil moisture and soil strength by integrating information from disparate data sources, including low resolution weather-scale predictions; localized, sparse point measurements; and other available data that correlate with soil moisture such as elevation, slope, vegetation, and soil type.