Jason Patton
I am a postdoctoral fellow, and joined the soil physics group here at Oklahoma State after earning a B.S. in Meteorology and M.S. and Ph.D. in Agricultural Meteorology at Iowa State University. My research goals are to develop and distribute high resolution (~1 km scale), near real-time maps of soil moisture for the state of Oklahoma. The mapping research includes calibration and use of a new soil moisture sensing tool, the COSMOS rover.The COSMOS rover includes neutron probe-like passive sensors that are sensitive to the natural surface neutron flux, which is controlled by cosmic rays striking the Earth's atmosphere and by interactions between neutrons and hydrogen at the surface. the COSMOS rover has a relatively large sensing area (radius of 300 m) and can be operated in a moving vehicle ( up to 30 mph), allowing the measurement of soil moisture over large areas and distances in a single day. The research is funded by the "Adapting Socio-ecological Systems to Increased Climate Variability" EPSCoR project, where soil moisture is identified as one of the key climate variables impacting the local economy.
Email: jason.c.patton@okstate.edu
