Pre-Workshop Meeting: Operations and Maintenance Challenges for Soil Moisture Networks

Securing adequate funding for operations and maintenance is an ongoing challenge for many in situ soil moisture networks. NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), Colorado State University, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are hosting a half-day meeting ahead of the 2025 National Soil Moisture Workshop, on the “Operations and Maintenance Challenges for Soil Moisture Networks.”  This pre-workshop meeting will be held on June 2, 2025 from 1–4 p.m. MT and will discuss the following topics:

• Station life-cycles and total cost of ownership thinking
• Current approaches for funding Operations and Maintenance (O&M) - challenges and achievements
• Recommendations for newly emerging/expanding networks.

The intended outcome of this pre-workshop meeting is to kick off brainstorming and engagement for a white paper on O&M for soil moisture networks. 

Registration for the pre-workshop meeting is now closed.

For logistical reasons, this meeting will be in-person only. If you are interested in collaborating on the white paper but are unable to attend the meeting, please reach out to Elise Osenga at elise.osenga@noaa.gov.

Image credit: Aspen Global Change Institute, Emilio Mateo.