Water in the soil—both its amount (soil moisture) and its state (freeze/thaw)—plays a key role in water and energy cycles, in weather and climate, and in the carbon cycle. Additionally, soil moisture touches upon human lives in a number of ways—from the ravages of flooding to the needs for monitoring agricultural and hydrologic droughts. Because of their relevance to weather, climate, science, and society, accurate and timely measurements of soil moisture and freeze/thaw state with global coverage are critically important.
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Brown et al. (2013) studied this question.
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