New collab: The uTar-naSa team installing the sensor and datalogger at a padi field in Sungai besar.
In a new research collaboration, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) and the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will exchange resources and expertise under the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Calibration and Validation Programme.
According to a memorandum of understanding inked on Oct 14, NASA will provide soil moisture and vegetation sensors for UTAR’s in-situ network and offer access to preliminary SMAP science data products prior to their public release through the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Additionally, NASA will support UTAR in site design, installation, data processing, and data quality evaluation while facilitating scientific meetings, workshops, and joint research initiatives using soil moisture datasets.
UTAR, for its part, will install and operate in-situ sites equipped with NASA-provided sensors, supply data collected from these sites to NASA, and participate in the scientific meetings and workshops organised by the SMAP science team.
The partnership kicked off with NASA researchers Dr Simon Yueh, Dr Andreas Colliander and Dr Rajat Bindish working alongside UTAR researchers to install advanced dataloggers at Ayer Tawar, Perak, and Sungai Besar, Selangor, in October.
These installations, done with the assistance of Applied Agricultural Resources Sdn Bhd (AARSB) and the Integrated Agricultural Development Area Barat Laut Selangor, will serve as critical points for collecting in-situ soil moisture data, enabling the calibration of NASA’s SMAP satellite observations.
Emphasising the importance of the programme, UTAR Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science Assistant Prof Dr Toh Chia Ming said the collaboration with NASA will provide the varsity’s students and researchers with opportunities to engage in cutting-edge environmental science research while contributing to global efforts in climate monitoring and sustainable agricultural practices.
By collaborating on SMAP data and soil moisture monitoring, UTAR and NASA are fostering international scientific cooperation and driving innovation in environmental research, the varsity said in a press release.
