Dear Users,
due to an error in the model parameters, the operational H SAF soil-moisture product H28 requires an update (details see below). The update will be implemented starting from the 23rd of September.
Change details: The downscaling (DIREX) parameters for the following Equi7Grid tiles have been re-computed due to a storage issue, where the first layer of the DIREX parameters was mistakenly applied to all layers. As a result, the ASCAT DIS SSM NRT product was limited in that equal weighting was applied to all directional inputs, rather than using the intended directional differentiation. This did not critically impact the overall product performance but may have reduced the spatial representativeness in certain areas.
EU500M_E054N000T6, EU500M_E042N000T6, EU500M_E048N000T6, EU500M_E060N000T6, EU500M_E012N018T6, EU500M_E054N024T6, EU500M_E048N024T6, EU500M_E060N024T6, EU500M_E054N030T6, EU500M_E072N018T6, EU500M_E072N030T6, EU500M_E066N012T6, EU500M_E054N036T6, EU500M_E066N024T6, EU500M_E066N006T6, EU500M_E072N012T6, EU500M_E066N018T6, EU500M_E066N030T6, EU500M_E072N024T6, EU500M_E066N036T6, EU500M_E066N000T6, EU500M_E072N006T6, EU500M_E078N006T6, EU500M_E060N030T6, EU500M_E036N042T6, EU500M_E036N036T6, EU500M_E060N036T6, EU500M_E042N006T6, EU500M_E054N048T6, EU500M_E054N042T6, EU500M_E048N030T6, EU500M_E072N000T6, EU500M_E018N006T6, EU500M_E060N018T6, EU500M_E048N036T6
Additionally, three tiles (EU500M_E054N024T6, EU500M_E048N024T6, EU500M_E060N024T6) were corrected because they were missing DIREX parameters along their southern borders.
Dear User
The H SAF Team is pleased to announce that he h40B, h42B precipitation products and h43 snow product are fully disseminated via Eumetcast. All products are generated for the full Meteosat-12, 0-degree disc and have operational status. .
H40B product, Based on the “Rapid Update” (RU) combined technique, leverages all new capabilities of MTG FCI instrument. Key to the RU blended satellite technique is a real time collection of time and space overlapping pixels from operational geostationary IR imagers and LEO MW sensors that for MTG means generating a full disk precipitation map every 10 minutes with a resolution of 2km (nadir). This increased time and space resolution makes h40 one of the best product for NRT hydrological monitoring, weather situation analysis and emergency management by National meteorological services and operational Agencies.
For further information:
H42 is a Level 3 precipitation product, providing hourly the 1 hour accumulated precipitation and every six hours (at 00, 06, 12 and 18 UTC) the 24 hours accumulated precipitation. The accumulated precipitation rate is obtained integrating all the available h40B precipitation estimation which means that the products uses all the accessible cross-track and conically scanning passive microwave radiometers (equipped with precipitation sensing channels). For its characteristics, the product can be effectively used for hydrological applications and for data assimilation in hydrological models and can be easily compared with global rainfall gridded datasets.
For further information:
H43 is a day-1 daily snow extent product covering the full MTG/FCI Disk at 2km resolution at nadir, utilizing the 10 minute temporal resolution of the instrument by combining the observations throughout the day. To provide better accuracy for different landscapes it is produced as two variants, flatland/forested and mountainous regions, that employ specifically tailored algorithms which are then combined and delivered as the final merged product. Final product contains both variants (flatland and mountainous) as well as the merged product to cater to different user needs in hydrological and meteorological applications. H43 product demonstrates strong capability in mapping snow cover across heterogeneous mountain landscapes, including areas with fragmented topography and mixed land cover. It effectively captures the dendritic snow distribution patterns along valley networks and the snow extent gradients on the fringes of slopes, where detection is often complicated by elevation changes, terrain shadowing, and variable vegetation cover.
For further information:
Dear User
The H SAF Team is pleased to announce that the new H SAF Metop ASCAT Surface Soil Moisture Near Real-Time 12.5km sampling product (ID: H29) is now available on EUMETCast .
This product is based on ASCAT data from the Metop satellites and provides soil moisture content in the surface layer (less then 5cm).
It is the successor of the H16 (Metop-B ASCAT NRT SSM 12.5km sampling) and H104 (Metop-C ASCAT NRT SSM 12.5km sampling) products
Main characteristics of ASCAT SSM 12.5km (H29):
For more information: https://hsaf.meteoam.it/Products/Detail?prod=H29
Dear Users,
We are pleased to announce that, from the 14th of August, the Full Eumetcast dissemination of the following MTG day1 products will start:
following up the previous announcement regarding the discontinuation of the precipitation product H01 as consequence of the termination of SSMIS data flow on the 31st of July 2025, we suggest you to refer to product H68 (P-IN-PMW - Gridded MW instantaneous precipitation rate based on intercalibrated PMW instantaneous precipitation rate estimates on extended H SAF area) as substitute of H01.
You can find all the information about H64 in the following H SAF website dedicated page: https://hsaf.meteoam.it/Products/Detail?prod=H68
New Scientific Publication on Extreme Rainfall Detection with H SAF Products
A new article has been published in Atmospheric Research showcasing the results of a comparative study between three H SAF products (H61B, H64, and H68) and IMERG V06B (Early and Late runs) in detecting and estimating extreme precipitation events over a coastal region in the western Mediterranean.
The study highlights that H64 exhibits the lowest daily error, while H61B and H68 achieve the best performance in terms of the Kling-Gupta Efficiency (KGE) metric.
Read the full article here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2025.108311
Eric Peinó, Marco Petracca, Francesc Polls, Mireia Udina, Joan Bech, Intercomparison of H SAF and IMERG heavy rainfall retrievals over a Mediterranean coastal region, Atmospheric Research, 2025
The H SAF Team is pleased to announce that starting from the 2nd of July the Soil Moisture product "ASCAT DIS SSM NRT v2 0.5 km (H28)" will be available via EumetCast.
The Metop ASCAT Surface Soil Moisture products are based on backscatter observations from the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) aboard the series of Metop satellites using a semi-empirical change detection method. The ASCAT soil moisture products provide soil water content in the surface layer (< 5 cm) expressed in degree of saturation (0-100%).
ASCAT DIS SSM NRT 0.5 km V2 (H28)
For more information: https://hsaf.meteoam.it
Dear User,
The United States Space Force and NOAA have announced the termination of SSMIS data flow on the 31st of July 2025. The end of the SSMIS data will impact the HSAF products listed below.
Precipitation products:
Snow products:
Further updated on this issue will be provided in the next days.
The H SAF Team is pleased to announce that starting from the 23rd of June the Soil Moisture product "ASCAT SSM NRT 6.25 km (H122) will be available via EumetCast.
The Metop ASCAT Surface Soil Moisture products are based on backscatter observations from the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) aboard the series of Metop satellites using a semi-empirical change detection method. The ASCAT soil moisture products provide soil water content in the surface layer (< 5 cm) expressed in degree of saturation (0-100%).
Main characteristics of ASCAT SSM 6.25 km
For more information: https://hsaf.meteoam.it
Dear users,
The Metop ASCAT Soil Moisture products currently generated at the EUMETSAT Central Facility, and distributed on EUMETCast, will be replaced by new, upgraded soil moisture products generated by the H SAF, as follows:
Main changes introduced with the new products include:
Main characteristics of ASCAT SSM 6.25km (H122) and ASCAT SSM 12.5km (H29):
Dear users,
Due to some user requests, the changes in the output format for the following precipitation products:
H61B: Accumulated Precipitation at ground by blended MW and IR
H63: Precipitation rate at ground by GEO/IR supported by LEO/MW IODC
H90: Accumulated Precipitation at ground by blended MW and IR IODC
is postponed to the 1st of July 2025 (not the 6th May as previously announced).
The test data for format familiarisation and system testing can be accessed starting from the 15th of May from our ftp site: ftphsaf.meteoam.it/products/utilities/h60NewFormatExample (the access is for registered users only)
If you have any questions, please contact us through the H SAF Helpdesk:https://hsaf2-new.meteoam.it/support/contact-us
Dear Users,
on Wednesday, 16 April 2025, 15:00 CEST (UTC+2) the TU-Wien partner in HSAF will hold the online webinar "Using the new H SAF 6.25km ASCAT soil moisture data for drought monitoring" as part of the ESA-led EO Africa project. Registration is open and free of charge.
Here the link for details and registration.
https://www.eoafrica-rd.org/space-academy/webinars/#webinar20
If you have any questions, please contact us through the H SAF Helpdesk.
Dear users,
from the 1st of May 2025 onwards, the following precipitation products:
H61B: Accumulated Precipitation at ground by blended MW and IR
H63: Precipitation rate at ground by GEO/IR supported by LEO/MW IODC
H90: Accumulated Precipitation at ground by blended MW and IR IODC
will be distributed with the changes as described hereafter
The precipitation rate values will be stored as integer values (decimillimetres rain per hour) instead of the current real values (millimetres rain per hour), having a scale factor (scale_factor) of 0.1 and an offset (add_offset) of 0.0.
The undefined values (missing_values) are stored with the value of -99.
This new format will reduce significantly the products files dimension bringing benefits in terms of NRT files download via FTP and orders placing.
The test data for format familiarisation and system testing can be accessed from our ftp site: ftphsaf.meteoam.it/products/utilities/h60NewFormatExample (the access is for registered users only)
If you have any questions, please contact us through the H SAF Helpdesk:https://hsaf2-new.meteoam.it/support/contact-us
This year’s soil moisture workshop will be hosted by Michigan State University. It will take place 4-6 June 2024 in East Lansing, Michigan.
https://events.anr.msu.edu/soilmoisture
The issue with the contact form for registered users has been resolved. Authenticated users can again rely on the contact form.
The Offline product "Metop ASCAT DR2021EXT SSM time series 12.5 km sampling" corresponding to the extension of data record SSM ASCAT DR2021 TS12.5 (H119), has been released.
The Data record Metop ASCAT DR2021 SSM time series 12.5 km sampling (H119) has been released and covers the period 01-01-2007 – 31-12-2020.
Today the EUMETCast Full dissemination of the following precipitation products has started and they are now officially released:
The EUMETCast Full dissemination of the Pre-Operational precipitation product H90 (P-AC-SEVIRI_E) will start the 09/06/2022.
The H SAF H90 product (P-AC-SEVIRI_E) is the Accumulated Precipitation at ground by blended MW and IR over IODC area.
H90 integrates the instantaneous precipitation maps generated by P-IN-SEVIRI-E product (based on inter-calibrated Level 2 PMW instantaneous precipitation rate estimates blended with 10.8 μm channel from SEVIRI IODC instrument). The integration is performed providing hourly the 1 hour accumulated precipitation and every six hours (at 00, 06, 12 and 18 UTC) the 24 hour accumulated precipitation.
The "Pre-Operational" status is justified by the following limitation affecting the H63 product: the instantaneous product that combines the PMW precipitation estimation with GEO IR channel products on boxes of 2.5° in geographical latitude and longitude, and H90 (the integration) could accentuate discontinuities between adjacent boxes. The problem is currently under resolution.
The EUMETCast Full dissemination of the Operational Precipitation product H68 (P-IN-PMW will start the 09/06/2022.The H SAF H68 product (P-IN-PMW) is the Gridded MW instantaneous precipitation rate based on intercalibrated PMW instantaneous precipitation rate estimates on extended H SAF area. This is a Level 3 product providing gridded MW precipitation rate at regular time intervals. It is based on instantaneous precipitation rate estimates available from P-IN-SSMIS (H01), P-IN-MHS (H02B), P-IN-ATMS (H18), H-AUX-17, H-AUX-20, combined and intercalibrated. For each 30 minute time interval, all orbits of LEO satellite carrying PMW radiometers (SSMIS, AMSR-2, GMI, ATMS, AMSU/MHS) available over the MSG extended H SAF area are considered, to provide one unique precipitation rate estimate in each grid-box.
The EUMETCast Full dissemination of the Operational Precipitation product H64 (P-AC-SM2RAIN) will start the 09/06/2022.
The H SAF H64 product (P-AC-SM2RAIN) is the Precipitation/Soil Moisture integrated product. This products provides Gridded daily precipitation obtained by merging soil moisture-derived rainfall, obtained through the application of SM2RAIN to the SSMASCAT-A/B-NRT-O12.5 (H16 and H101, H104) soil moisture products, with the H-AUX-23 or H-AUX-67 rainfall estimates.
The EUMETCast Full dissemination of the Operational Precipitation product H60 (P-IN-SEVIRI_E) will start the 09/06/2022.
The H SAF H63 product (P-IN-SEVIRI_E) is the Blended SEVIRI / LEO MW precipitation estimates over IODC area.
Instantaneous precipitation maps are generated combining geostationary (GEO IODC) IR images from operational geostationary satellites calibrated by precipitation measurements from MW images on Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, processed soon after each acquisition of a new image from GEO IODC. A separate treatment is performed for convective precipitation: the morphologic information and the enhancement of precipitation estimate is done by the use of NEFODINA software.
The EUMETCast Full dissemination of the Pre-Operational Precipitation product H61 (P-AC-SEVIRI-PMW) will start the 09/06/2022.
The H SAF H61 product (P-AC-SEVIRI-PMW) is the Accumulated Precipitation at ground by blended MW and IR. H61B integrates the instantaneous precipitation maps generated by P-IN-SEVIRI-PMW product (based on inter-calibrated Level 2 PMW instantaneous precipitation rate estimates blended with 10.8 μm channel from SEVIRI instrument). The integration is performed providing hourly the 1 hour accumulated precipitation and every six hours (at 00, 06, 12 and 18 UTC) the 24 hour accumulated precipitation. The "Pre-Operational" status is justified by the following limitation affecting the H61B product: the instantaneous product that combines the PMW precipitation estimation with GEO IR channel products on boxes of 2.5° in geographical latitude and longitude, and H61B (the integration) could accentuate discontinuities between adjacent boxes. The problem is currently under resolution.
The EUMETCast Full dissemination of the Operational precipitation product H60 (P-IN-SEVIRI-PMW) will start the 09/06/2022.
The H SAF H60 product (P-IN-SEVIRI-PMW) is the Blended SEVIRI / LEO MW precipitation estimates. Instantaneous precipitation maps are generated combining geostationary (GEO) IR images from operational geostationary satellites calibrated by precipitation measurements from MW images on Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, processed soon after each acquisition of a new image from GEO. A separate treatment is performed for convective precipitation: the morphologic information and the enhancement of precipitation estimate is done by the use of NEFODINA software.
Dear users,
we are pleased to announce that today the EUMETCast Full dissemination in NetCDF of the Soil Moisture product H26 (Metop ASCAT NRT Root Zone Soil Moisture Profile Index 10km resolution) starts and that the product is officially released.
The EUMETCast Full dissemination in NetCDF of the Soil Moisture product H26 (Metop ASCAT NRT Root Zone Soil Moisture Profile Index 10km resolution) „Operational“ product, will start on the 24/03/2022. This product supplies the analysed liquid soil moisture profile index for four different soil layers (covering the root zone from the surface to ~ 3metres) generated by the ECMWF soil moisture assimilation system at 24 hour time steps. It takes the heritage from H14 which was at lower resolution and longer timeliness.
The H14 (SM-DAS-2) NRT product will be discontinued in approximately one year. A specific date for the H14 discontinuation will be given in due course.
Dear users, we inform you that, the offline product H116 ASCAT SSM CDR v5 EXT 12.5 km has been updated and it now covers the period 2019-01-01 until 2021-12-31.
The 5th H SAF User Workshop supported by EUMeTrain will be held in online mode from January 24th, 2022 to January 28th, 2022. The workshop objectives will be:
Further infromation about the agenda, the registration and the abstract submission procedure can be found here.