Validation of SMAP retrieval in an Arctic tundra environment: Trail Valley Creek, Northwest Territories [Canada] dataset

This study examines Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) soil moisture product on the EASE-2 36km Global cylindrical and North Polar azimuthal grids relative to two in situ soil moisture monitoring networks that were installed in 2015 and 2016. Results indicate that there is no relationship between the SMAP Level-2 passive soil moisture product and the upscaled in situ measurements. Additionally, there is very low correlation between modeled brightness temperature using the Community Microwave Emission Model and the Level-1 C SMAP brightness temperature interpolated to the EASE-2 Global grid; however, there is a much stronger relationship to the brightness temperature measurements interpolated to the North Polar grid, suggesting that the soil moisture product could be improved with interpolation on the North Polar grid.