AirMOSS

The Airborne Microwave Observatory of Subcanopy and Subsurface (AirMOSS) investigation provided high-resolution observations of root-zone soil moisture over nine major North American biomes. The campaign goals were to quantify the impact of variations in soil moisture on the estimation of regional carbon fluxes and to extrapolate the reduced-uncertainty estimates of regional carbon fluxes to the continental scale of North America. 

The AirMOSS campaign used an airborne ultra-high frequency synthetic aperture radar flown on a Gulfstream-III aircraft to derive estimates of soil moisture down to approximately 1.2 meters. Extensive ground, tower, and aircraft in-situ measurements were collected to validate root-zone soil measurements and carbon flux model estimates.