aPPLEx Vegetation
Vegetation
experiment Overview
The objectives of the intensive vegetation monitoring are:
i) to characterise the paddocks monitored for soil moisture in the individual 3km × 3km focus areas, so as to describe all dominant vegetation types at various stages of maturity and vegetation water content for the purpose of radiometer modelling; and
ii) to collect detailed plant structural parameters for selected vegetation types (agricultural and grazing) and to track the evolution of such parameters across the APPLEx campaign period, for the purpose of radar algorithm development. The data collected are expected to be comprehensive enough to perform forward modelling of L-/P-band radar backscatter using a discrete scatterer approach (in conjunction with surface parameters such as surface roughness and soil moisture).
| Field Parameters | Leaf Parameters | Stalk Parameters |
|---|---|---|
| Plant Density | Leaves Water Content | Stalk VWC |
| Plant Biomass | Leaves Width | Stalk Length |
| Plant VWC | Leaves Length | Stalk diameter (bottom, mid, top) |
| Row Orientation (crops) | Leaves Thickness | Stalk angle (bottom) |
| Row Spacing (crops) | Leaves Angle (bottom, mid, top) | Plant Height |
| Plant Spectral Data | Number of leaves per plant | |
| Soil Moisture | ||
| Surface Roughness |
In addition to spatial soil moisture measurements, a range of supporting data are collected, which are needed as input to soil moisture retrieval algorithm. Such data include:
- Land cover type;
- Vegetation canopy height;
- Visual observation of dew presence and characteristics;
- Gravimetric soil moisture samples; and
- Soil texture samples.
Land cover type, vegetation canopy height and visual observations of dew presence is electronically recorded in the HDAS systems at each location where soil moisture measurements are taken. Soil gravimetric and textural samples is sampled only at certain selected locations.
