In situ soil moisture observations for the CAL/VAL of SMOS: the SMOSMANIA network

SMOSMANIA (Soil Moisture Observing System Meteorological Automatic Network Integrated Application) is a project aiming at implementing soil moisture measurements in a portion of the automatic ground station network of Meteo-France (the RADOME network). The SMOSMANIA network will permit to monitor soil moisture in southwestern France thanks to in situ automatic, real-time measurements of soil moisture profiles (-5, -10, -20, -30 cm). Twelve ground stations were activated in 2006 forming a Mediterranean-Atlantic gradient. The soil moisture data acquisition became fully operational in January 2007. In 2007, soil temperature probes will be installed and the calibration of the soil moisture probes will be finalized. This ground network will be associated with modeling activities and will permit to validate the products of the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) mission of ESA, from 2008 to 2012.