Combined analysis of soil moisture measurements from roving and fixed cosmic ray neutron probes for multiscale real-time monitoring

Soil moisture partly controls land-atmosphere mass and energy exchanges and ecohydrological processes in natural and agricultural systems. Thus, many models and remote sensing products continue to improve their spatiotemporal resolution of soil moisture, with some land surface models reaching 1km resolution. However, the reliability and accuracy of both modeled and remotely sensed soil moisture require comparison with ground measurements at the appropriate spatiotemporal scales. One promising technique is the cosmic ray neutron probe. Here we further assess the suitability of this technique for real-time monitoring across a large area by combining data from three fixed probes and roving surveys over a 12km×12km area in eastern Nebraska. Regression analyses indicated linear relationships between the fixed probe averages and roving estimates of soil moisture for each grid cell, allowing us to derive an 8h product at spatial resolutions of 1, 3, and 12km, with root-mean-square error of 3%, 1.8%, and 0.9%. Key Points Combine fixed and roving cosmic ray neutron soil moisture data sets Data merging techniques to design soil moisture network at different scales Soil moisture network can provide spatiotemporal data and stats for downscaling