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soil moisture study aims for climate change insights


The project's goal is to help determine whether the North American continent is a net source or sink of carbon. Researchers from U-M, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Harvard University, MIT, Oregon State University, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Purdue University are taking part.



"Even your houseplant has its own net exchange of carbon," Moghaddam said. "It takes carbon dioxide in during the day through photosynthesis, provided there is sunlight and it's warm enough. And breathes out some carbon dioxide at night. How much net carbon it sequesters, and therefore how much the plant grows, has to do with how much water is available to its roots: No water, no growth."



Moghaddam will oversee the design and fabrication of the AirMOSS instrument, a table-top-sized, high-powered, low-frequency radar that NASA/JPL collaborators will build for the project. She has also developed computational techniques to analyze the signals it sends back. Moghaddam's research group is a leader in developing radar algorithms for subsurface characterization.

"This work will help us understand a piece of the carbon cycle puzzle," Moghaddam said. "We may know that different areas in north America act as sinks or sources of carbon, but we don't know how large the net carbon exchange is, how fast it's changing, or how big it's going to get. Today, we rely on model estimates and there is huge uncertainty."


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