Data quality and metadata guidelines for the soil moisture monitoring community
Briana M. Wyatt, Nandita Gaur, Michael Cosh, Elise Osenga, Pamela Knox, Matthew R. Levi, Marina Skumanich, Steven M. Quiring, Bradley G. Illston, Edward Ayres, Zamir Libohova, Vinit Sehgal, Ryan C. Sullivan, Kevin R. Brinson, Octavia Crompton, Ronald D. Leeper, Phillip B. Duncan, Xi Zhang, Renée F. Brown, Carlos Quintero, Leo Rivera, Claire Baffaut, Todd CaldwellAbstract
Soil moisture data are collected widely across the United States using commercially available soil moisture sensors, but no standardized guidelines exist regarding data quality (data accuracy, consistency, completeness, versioning, etc.) or metadata reporting (who, what, when, where, how, and why data are collected). Metadata associated with soil moisture data are complex, encompassing information about various sensors and soil attributes. In late 2024, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Integrated Drought Information System published community‐driven soil moisture data quality and metadata guidance, freely available online. This update describes the development of these documents and introduces the concept of a tiering system for data quality for in situ networks to aid networks in the characterization and analysis of their own resources. These guidelines support existing and emerging US networks while providing data users and providers with essential information to improve use of soil moisture data in both monitoring and decision‐making applications.