GRACE-DA-DM Global V3.0: Global Groundwater and Soil Moisture Drought Indicators

Global groundwater and soil moisture drought indicators derived from GRACE and GRACE-FO satellite data assimilation. Scientists at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center generate these weekly percentile-based indicators, covering February 2003 to present with a 3-6 month latency. The data has a spatial resolution of 0.25 degrees and is archived in NetCDF format.

Use Cases

• Monitor global drought severity based on groundwater percentile indicators
• Analyze soil moisture trends for agricultural risk assessment based on root zone and surface soil moisture percentile data
• Validate land surface model simulations using assimilated GRACE and GRACE-FO terrestrial water storage observations
• Assess regional water resource availability based on percentile data indicating probability of occurrence within the 1948-2014 record

Strengths

• Data is generated weekly with operational updates available with a 2-9 day latency
• Provides three distinct drought indicators: Groundwater Percentile, Root Zone Soil Moisture Percentile, and Surface Soil Moisture Percentile
• Based on GRACE and GRACE-FO satellite data assimilation within a sophisticated numerical model (Catchment Land Surface Model Fortuna 2.5)
• Has a temporal range from February 2003 to present and a spatial resolution of 0.25 degrees

Limitations

• Drought indicator data are daily but available only one day (Monday) per week
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Generated by scientists at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center using GRACE and GRACE-FO data assimilation within the Land Information System framework.

Time Range

February 2003 to present (with a 3-6 month latency)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 01:34:14.973505; freshness should be verified

Geography

Global coverage (60S, 180W, 90N, 180E)