Recent advances in active microwave remote sensing techniques provide the potential for monitoring soil moisture conditions at the spatial and temporal scales required for detailed local modeling efforts. The goal of this research was to produce accurate and spatially distributed estimates of soil moisture using a time series of ERS-2 images for the Konza Prairie, a tallgrass environment in northeast Kansas. The methods used in this research involve field data collection of soil moisture, digital image interpretation of optical (NOAA AVHRR and LANDSAT TM) and radar (ERS-2) imagery, and environmental modeling in a raster GIS environment