AirMOSS: An Airborne P-band SAR to measure root-zone soil moisture

A keystone of the Airborne Microwave Observatory of Subcanopy and Subsurface (AirMOSS) investigation is the P-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), which will provide calibrated polarimetric measurements that will be used to retrieve the root-zone soil moisture (RZSM) over regional scale (250 kha) areas imaged. The radar is based on JPL´s L-band Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) system. It is currently under development and scheduled to begin flights in mid-2012. The AirMOSS P-band SAR inherits UAVSAR´s existing L-band RF and digital electronics subsystems. New up- and down-converters convert the L-band signals to UHF frequencies (280-440 MHz). The passive antenna is based on the legacy GeoSAR design.