Dear User,
the H SAF Team is pleased to announce that the new H SAF ESCAT-ASCAT Root-zone Soil Moisture Climate Data Record 0.1 deg sampling product (ID: H145) is now available on the H SAF ftp, covering the period 01/01/1991 to 31/12/2024. The intermediate climate data record (ID: H146), which serves as the offline extension to H145, is available from 01/01/2025 and is updated daily with a 5-day latency.

Users of the original H14 NRT product are encouraged to switch to the newer H26 near-real-time product where possible, as it offers better consistency with the new H145/H146 CDR.

The H145/H146 products are based on level 2 ESCAT-ASCAT SM assimilation from the ERS/Metop satellites. Expressed as a liquid soil wetness index over 4 layers from the surface down to 2.89 m. 

The H145 and H146 products succeed the H141 (RZSM-DR2019-10km) and H142 (RZSM-DR-EXT-10km) data record products. The H145/H146 temporal coverage (1991-2024) is longer than the H141/H142 data record (1992-2021) and the daily updates of H146 allow it to be used for recent periods (e.g. monthly anomalies). Also, H145/H146 assimilates a newer and enhanced level 2 ASCAT soil moisture product from 2007 onwards and benefits from recent advances in the ecLand data assimilation system. These advancements should also make the H145/H146 products more consistent with the H26 near-real-time product.

Main characteristics of ESCAT-ASCAT RZSM DR v3 0.1 deg (H145) and ESCAT-ASCAT RZSM DR v3 EXT 0.1 deg (H146):

Variable: Soil moisture content in the root-zone (0-289 cm depth)
Unit: Liquid soil wetness index (0–1)
Spatial sampling/resolution: 0.1 degrees
Vertical sampling: 4 layers with depths of 0-7 cm, 7-28 cm, 28-100 cm, and 100-289 cm 
Spatial coverage: Global (90°S, 180°W, 90°N, 180°E)
Timeliness: 5 days (for the H146 ICDR)
Format: netCDF4 
For more information: https://hsaf.meteoam.it/Products/Detail?prod=H145