CLIMSCAT

Soil moisture information is an important parameter in numerical weather prediction and climate modelling, e.g. as used in modelling greenhouse gas emission effects. Soil moisture in these analyses is often not measured directly but assimilated from other (meteorological) sources in the absence of better information. Soil moisture information measured by the ERS and  METOP scatterometers (SCAT and ASCAT) is a potentially attractive and useful alternative.

The objectives of the CLIMSCAT project were threefold:

• Define the user requirements for meteorological and climate research user communities for soil moisture monitoring products that can be derived from the ERS-scatterometer;
• Demonstrate the usefulness of scatterometer based soil moisture monitoring in climate research and carbon dioxide fluxes models;
• Design the service capable delivering the required soil moisture information products to the user community of meteorologists and climate researchers.

The project helped NEO establish its DRYMON (Drought Monitoring and Yield Forecasting) service.