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This dataset contains measurements of L-band brightness temperature by an ELBARA-III microwave radiometer in horizontal and vertical polarization, profile soil moisture and soil temperature, turbulent heat fluxes, and meteorological data from the beginning of 2016 till August 2019, while the experiment is still continuing. Auxiliary vegetation and soil texture information collected in dedicated campaigns are also reported. This dataset can be used to validate the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) and Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite based observations and retrievals, verify radiative transfer model assumptions and validate land surface model and reanalysis outputs, retrieve soil properties, as well as to quantify land-atmosphere exchanges of energy, water and carbon and help to reduce discrepancies and uncertainties in current Earth System Models (ESM) parameterizations.

ELBARA-III horizontal and vertical brightness temperature are computed from measured radiometer voltages and calibrated internal noise temperatures. The data is reliable, and its quality is evaluated by 1) Perform ‘histogram test’ on the voltage samples (raw-data) of the detector output at sampling frequency of 800 Hz. Statistics of the histogram test showed no non-Gaussian Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) were found when ELBAR-III was operated. 2) Check the voltages at the antenna ports measured during sky measurements. Results showed close values. 3) Check the instrument internal temperature, active cold source temperature and ambient temperature. 3) Analysis the angular behaviour of the processed brightness temperatures.

-Temporal resolution: 30 minutes

-Spatial resolution: incident angle of observation ranges from 40° to 70° in step of 5°. The area of footprint ranges between 3.31 m^2 and 43.64 m^2

-Accuracy of Measurement: Brightness temperature, 1 K; Soil moisture, 0.001 m^3 m^-3; Soil temperature, 0.1 °C

-Unit: Brightness temperature, K; Soil moisture, m^3 m^-3; Soil temperature, °C/K

File naming and required software

- MeteoData: Meteorological data contain air temperature, precipitation amount, four components radiation measurement (i.e., up- and down-welling shortwave and longwave radiations);
- SMST_LC: Soil moisture and soil temperature data at different depth;
- SMST_Z: Soil moisture and soil temperature at different depth;
- ELBARA-III TB: ELABRA-III measured brightness temperature TB at different incidence angle for H and V polarizations;
- LAI_IN SITU: In-situ measured leaf area index;
- MODIS LAI_HANTS: Processed MODIS LAI using HANTS algorithm;
- MODIS_LAI_8daily: 8-daily raw data extracted from MCD15A2H - MODIS/Terra+Aqua Leaf Area Index (500 m resolution);
- SMAP TB: SMAP L1C brightness temperature TB over Maqu ELABRA-III site;
- Field_Unit: The description and unit for each field in each sheet;
- FluxDataAllField: The data measured by Integrated Eddy Covariance system (EC150 analyzer, CSAT3A anemometer, MP155A relative humidity and temperature, and 109-L air temperature) (Campbell scientific, USA).
-Soil physical properties dataset over the Tibetan Plateau: https://data.4tu.nl/articles/Soil_Hydraulic_and_Thermal_Properties_for_Land_Surface_Modelling_over_the_Tibetan_Plateau_version_1_/12721418/2

Data Citations Data citation guideline What's data citation?

Bob, S., Wen, J. (2020). Multiyear in-situ L-band microwave radiometry of land surface processes on the Tibetan Plateau (2016-2019). A Big Earth Data Platform for Three Poles, DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.12058038.v1. (Download the reference： RIS | Bibtex )

1. Su, Z., Wen, J., Zeng, Y. et al. (2020). Multiyear in-situ L-band microwave radiometry of land surface processes on the Tibetan Plateau. Sci Data 7, 317. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-00657-1( View Details | Bibtex)

Using this data, the data citation is required to be referenced and the related literatures are suggested to be cited.

References literature

1.Su, Z., Wen, J., Dente, L., Van Der Velde, R., Wang, L., Ma, Y., Yang, K., Hu, Z. (2011). The Tibetan Plateau observatory of plateau scale soil moisture and soil temperature (Tibet-Obs) for quantifying uncertainties in coarse resolution satellite and model products. Hydrology & Earth System Sciences. 2011 Jul 1, 15(7). (View Details | Download )

2.Zheng, D., Wang, X., Van Der Velde, R., Zeng, Y., Wen, J., Wang, Z., Schwank, M., Ferrazzoli, P., and Su, Z. (2017). L-Band Microwave Emission of Soil Freeze-Thaw Process in the Third Pole Environment, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 55(9), 5324-5338. (View Details | Download )

3.Zhao, H., Zeng, Y., Lv, S., Su, Z. (2018). Analysis of soil hydraulic and thermal properties for land surface modeling over the Tibetan Plateau. Earth system science data. 2018 Jul 1, 10(2), 1031. (View Details | Download )

4.Zheng, D., Li, X., Wang, X., Wang, Z., Wen, J., van der Velde, R., Schwank, M., & Su, Z. (2019). Sampling depth of L-band radiometer measurements of soil moisture and freeze-thaw dynamics on the Tibetan Plateau, Remote Sensing of Environment, 226, 16-25. (View Details | Download )

Support Program

ESA ELBARA-II/III Loan Agreement EOP-SM/2895/TC-tc

ESA MOST Dragon IV Program (Monitoring Water and Energy Cycles at Climate Scale in the Third Pole Environment)

Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research under Project ALW-GO/14-29

Copyright & License

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License： This work is licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

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