LPRM_AMSR2_DS_A_SOILM3: Daily Global Soil Moisture and Land Temperature

From May 2012 to the present, this Level 3 gridded dataset provides daily, global estimates of surface soil moisture, land surface (skin) temperature, and vegetation water content. The data are derived from passive microwave observations by the JAXA GCOM-W1 satellite's AMSR2 instrument, processed using the Land Parameter Retrieval Model (LPRM). It offers daytime (ascending) and nighttime (descending) passes at a 10 km x 10 km spatial resolution.

Use Cases

• Monitoring agricultural drought conditions based on surface soil moisture estimates.
• Validating land surface models using global, daily skin temperature data.
• Analyzing vegetation water content for ecological and hydrological studies.
• Assimilating satellite-derived soil moisture into numerical weather prediction models.

Strengths

• Provides a continuous, long-term record from May 2012 to present.
• Derives multiple key land surface parameters (soil moisture, temperature, vegetation water content) from a unified retrieval model.
• Offers global coverage with daily temporal resolution.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as specific column names, row counts, and file sizes are not provided on any platform.
• License information is inconsistently reported ('other-license-specified' on Data.gov vs. 'None' on NASA Earthdata).
• The dataset's documentation and update history are incomplete across sources.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), using data from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) GCOM-W1 satellite.

Collection Method

Parameters retrieved from AMSR2 brightness temperatures using the Land Parameter Retrieval Model (LPRM), a forward radiative transfer model.

Time Range

May 2012 to present.

Freshness

Last updated on Data.gov: 2026-03-13.

Geography

Global.