MoistureMonitor: A multi-mission soil moisture monitoring system for a water limited future. A long-term soil moisture record for Australia is critical to understanding climate change feedback mechanisms and their impacts on water management. This project will validate, downscale and harmonise soil moisture retrievals from three satellite missions across this decade, each using a new and different low resolution antenna technology and interpretation approach. Moisture Monitor, the framework to d ....MoistureMonitor: A multi-mission soil moisture monitoring system for a water limited future. A long-term soil moisture record for Australia is critical to understanding climate change feedback mechanisms and their impacts on water management. This project will validate, downscale and harmonise soil moisture retrievals from three satellite missions across this decade, each using a new and different low resolution antenna technology and interpretation approach. Moisture Monitor, the framework to deliver this soil moisture record, will be verified using airborne campaigns and hydrological monitoring infrastructure in the Murrumbidgee catchment. Important outcomes will be validation of a new soil moisture satellite and development of a high resolution soil moisture product for improved land and water management and policy for Australia.Read moreRead less
Towards an Active and Passive L- and P-band soil moisture satellite mission. This project tests alternate configurations for remote sensing of soil moisture using a new state-of-the-art Active/Passive (ie radar/radiometer) P-/L-band (ie microwave) satellite concept through a series of airborne field experiments. Timely soil moisture information is critical to improved water management for food production in the face of climate variability. The challenge is to do this accurately over large areas ....Towards an Active and Passive L- and P-band soil moisture satellite mission. This project tests alternate configurations for remote sensing of soil moisture using a new state-of-the-art Active/Passive (ie radar/radiometer) P-/L-band (ie microwave) satellite concept through a series of airborne field experiments. Timely soil moisture information is critical to improved water management for food production in the face of climate variability. The challenge is to do this accurately over large areas with an appropriate spatio-temporal detail, and for a soil depth that closely approximates the layer which impacts crop/pasture growth and influences management decisions. The longer P-band allows deeper penetration into the soil while the active/passive combination uses the respective resolution and accuracy characteristics.Read moreRead less
P-band soil moisture sensing from space. This project aims to develop radiative transfer models to demonstrate that a P-band radiometer capability can remotely sense the top ~15cm layer of soil moisture, through a series of tower and airborne field experiments. Timely soil moisture information on this near-surface layer is critical to improved water management for food production in the face of extreme climate variability. Current satellite technologies are limited to the top ~5cm layer of soil ....P-band soil moisture sensing from space. This project aims to develop radiative transfer models to demonstrate that a P-band radiometer capability can remotely sense the top ~15cm layer of soil moisture, through a series of tower and airborne field experiments. Timely soil moisture information on this near-surface layer is critical to improved water management for food production in the face of extreme climate variability. Current satellite technologies are limited to the top ~5cm layer of soil using an L-band radiometer. This project is expected to give farmers the soil moisture data they need to optimise their available water resources to maximise food productionRead moreRead less
Quality controlling GPS estimated atmospheric water vapour via stochastic modelling. Signals from satellites of the Global Positioning System (GPS) can be used to estimate the quantity of atmospheric water vapour. Such information is vital to meteorologists for numerical weather prediction, since lack of atmospheric water vapour knowledge is a significant source of error in short term (0-24 hours) forecasts of precipitation. However, to be of practical use in numerical weather models, the estima ....Quality controlling GPS estimated atmospheric water vapour via stochastic modelling. Signals from satellites of the Global Positioning System (GPS) can be used to estimate the quantity of atmospheric water vapour. Such information is vital to meteorologists for numerical weather prediction, since lack of atmospheric water vapour knowledge is a significant source of error in short term (0-24 hours) forecasts of precipitation. However, to be of practical use in numerical weather models, the estimate of the water vapour content must be accompanied by a realistic, reliable quality indicator. Such quality indicators are not currently attainable using existing GPS data processing methods, with this project aiming to overcome such deficiencies.Read moreRead less
Theoretical and Model Strengthening of Future Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) to Yield Improved Geospatial Information for Tomorrow's Society. Australia is a significant user of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs) because of its utility and for scientific applications (e.g., Earth-, atmospheric- and space-science). The national benefit of improved integer-estimation and model strengthening of integrated GNSSs is twofold: 1. all future scientific GNSS studies will rest on more ....Theoretical and Model Strengthening of Future Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) to Yield Improved Geospatial Information for Tomorrow's Society. Australia is a significant user of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs) because of its utility and for scientific applications (e.g., Earth-, atmospheric- and space-science). The national benefit of improved integer-estimation and model strengthening of integrated GNSSs is twofold: 1. all future scientific GNSS studies will rest on more reliable positioning and related solutions, and 2. the refinements to these high-precision and high-integrity scientific GNSS applications will feed into much-improved geospatial information for tomorrow's society. Read moreRead less
Satellite-Based Radio Occultation for Atmospheric Sounding, Weather Forecasting and Climate Monitoring in the Australian Region. Global climate change and its associated risks are serious issues because the resultant storms, fires, floods, droughts and cyclones are weather events affecting Australia. However, the predictability of such phenomena is seriously limited due to sparse atmospheric sensor distribution. This project will investigate new space-borne and ground-based radio occultation tec ....Satellite-Based Radio Occultation for Atmospheric Sounding, Weather Forecasting and Climate Monitoring in the Australian Region. Global climate change and its associated risks are serious issues because the resultant storms, fires, floods, droughts and cyclones are weather events affecting Australia. However, the predictability of such phenomena is seriously limited due to sparse atmospheric sensor distribution. This project will investigate new space-borne and ground-based radio occultation techniques, atmospheric sounding technologies and their fusion to overcome such constraints. This project is dedicated to developing superior national capabilities in anticipating, analysing and investigating critical meteorological threats to Australia. This research will significantly upgrade Australia's meteorological services and contribute to the global community.Read moreRead less