• Introduction
  • About the Module
  • Flooding in South Africa
  • About the Case
• Overview of the Rainfall and Flooding Season
  • Rainfall Accumulation Data
  • Provincial Seasonal Rainfall Graphs
  • Provincial Seasonal Rainfall Map
  • Station Rainfall Maps
• Combining Hydrological and Rainfall Data
  • Combined 7-Day Rainfall Accumulation vs. Dam Percent Capacity
• Satellite and NWP Data
  • Overview
  • WV Imagery Overlaid with Model Wind Fields
  • Upper-Level Low over Namibia
  • Moisture Advection
  • Comparing Cyclonic and Anti-Cyclonic Systems
  • Direction of the System
• RADAR Rainfall Estimates
  • SAWS Radar
  • Radar Data for 21 January 2010
• Hydro-Estimator
  • Overview
  • HE Data for 21 January 2010
• Integrating the Data
  • Making the Forecast
  • Taking Action
  • Combined 15-Day Rainfall Accumulation vs. Dam Percent Capacity
  • Real-Time Vs. Predicted Percent Capacity of the Dam
  • Conclusion
• Soil Moisture Products
  • ASAR GM
  • ASCAT
  • SMOS
• Flash Flood Guidance
  • SAWS Flash Flood Guidance System
• Conclusion
  • From 1996 to 2010
  • Recommendations

SMOS Soil Moisture Product

The European Space Agency (ESA) Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission supplies global observations of soil moisture over land. Assimilating surface moisture information into models results in better estimates of the water content in soil down to one to two meters, the area called the "root zone." Estimates of root zone moisture improve hydrological modeling and short- and medium-term meteorological forecasts, and are used to forecast floods, droughts, and other hazardous events. SMOS provides global maps of soil moisture every three days. These maps have a spatial resolution of 50 km and are accurate to within 4%. For more information on SMOS, see http://www.cp34-smos.icm.csic.es/smos_mission/smos_mission.htm