Study on Stability of Surface Soil Moisture and Other Meteorological Variables Within Time Intervals of SMOS and SMAP

The different orbit design and launching conditions of Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS, ESA) and Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP, NASA) result in different passing time over any point on the ground. The time lag between the two satellites is thought to be one of the reasons to induce uncertainties in soil moisture data comparison and validation. This letter calculates the temporal difference between SMOS and SMAP at first; it is found that their mismatch mainly concentrates within a period of 30–90 min. During such time lag, the change in surface soil moisture (5 cm) and other meteorological variables is analyzed on the basis of the U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN) high-frequency (5-min) field observations and Murrumbidgee Soil Moisture Monitoring Network (MSMMN)
in situ
measurements (20-min). This letter found that in most cases, air temperature, wind, and relative humidity present a moderate change of about 10%–20%, while solar radiation shows very strong variation from tens to hundreds (%). Soil moisture and soil temperature are always stable, the value of soil moisture at the two time points when SMOS and SMAP pass overhead are almost the same, and the averaged minimum and maximum fluctuations of soil moisture are only 0.004/0.003 and 0.007/0.01
$\text{m}^{3}/\text{m}^{3}$
, respectively, which are far less than the nominal accuracy of satellites (0.04
$\text{m}^{3}/\text{m}^{3})$
and probably unrecognizable. Soil moisture experiences a natural fading of very small magnitude during the time intervals of satellites, the temporal mismatch may not induce external uncertainties in soil moisture data comparison and validation, and it is safe to conclude that the impact is negligible.