AMSR2 Satellite Daily Surface Soil Moisture Measurements

Soil moisture data is derived from the AMSR2 instrument aboard the GCOM-W1 satellite, providing daily global measurements on a 25 km EASE-Grid. The dataset is generated in near real-time within 3 hours of observation by NASA's LANCE system using two retrieval algorithms (NPD and SCA). It serves as a beta product for applications requiring low latency, with higher-quality science products available separately.

Use Cases

• Monitoring agricultural drought conditions by analyzing daily surface soil moisture values.
• Assimilating soil moisture data into numerical weather prediction models to improve forecast accuracy.
• Validating land surface models by comparing model outputs with satellite-derived soil moisture retrievals.
• Studying the global water cycle by tracking temporal and spatial variations in soil water content.
• Supporting flood risk assessment by identifying antecedent soil moisture conditions before precipitation events.

Strengths

• Provides near real-time data with a latency of under 3 hours from the last observation.
• Offers global spatial coverage on a consistent 25 km EASE-Grid projection.
• Utilizes two established retrieval algorithms (JPL NPD and USDA SCA) for soil moisture estimation.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, file sizes, and a complete column list are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on license information, listing 'other-license-specified' or 'None'.
• Data is a beta near real-time product; users are advised to use standard science quality products for research requiring high calibration consistency.

Provenance

Source

NASA Land Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE) at the AMSR Science Investigator-led Processing System (AMSR SIPS), using data from JAXA's GCOM-W1 satellite.

Collection Method

Passive microwave measurements processed by the Normalized Polarization Difference and Single Channel Algorithm on resampled brightness temperature (Level-1R) data.

Time Range

Daily measurements, with near real-time processing. Specific start date not provided.

Freshness

2026-03-12 23:08:05.061025

Geography

Global coverage.