MESOSCALE ALPINE PROGRAMME (MAP)SOIL MOISTURE TDR MEASUREMENTS AT PALLANZENO - LAGO MAGGIORE TARGET AREA

In the framework of the international Mesoscale Alpine Programme (MAP), several Italian research groups (Hydrology Working Group # 3 and Planetary Boundary Layer Working Group # 8) operated jointly in Val d'Ossola, that is the so-called Lago Maggiore MAP Target Area.These groups performed measurements of several variables involved in the mass and energy exchanges at the air-soil interface, which will assess numerical models for weather forecast and for the study of soil surface wetness influence in the prediction of flood events.This report describes the soil water content measurements carried out by the Modena working group at Pallanzeno and the ones collected at the Siberia site (between Villadossola and Domodossola) and at the Anzola site (about 15 km towards the Lago Maggiore). These extra measurements have been done while a passive radiometer (in the microwave range), on board of a helicopter, was measuring.All the measurements performed by the Modena working group utilise the TDR technique (shortly described in the text) and concern the first 70 cm of soil.Besides a description of the TDR system used, of the probes set-up and of the calibration tests, in the final part of the report some preliminary results, from the collected measurements, are reported.