SOIL MOISTURE
Soil moisture is the water stored in the pores of soil, serving as a vital component of the hydrological cycle. It plays a critical role in influencing plant growth, weather, and climate systems. Soil moisture is typically classified into two main categories:
- Surface Soil Moisture (SSM): Water in the top few centimeters of soil, crucial for evaporation and weather interactions.
- Root Zone Soil Moisture (RZSM): Water available in the deeper soil layers, essential for plant uptake and long-term vegetation health.
AVAILABLE PRODUCTS
Surface Soil Moisture (SSM)
products are generated using backscatter observations from the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) on-board the Metop satellite series. These products are derived using a semi-empirical change detection method, providing SSM expressed as the degree of saturation (0–100%) for the topsoil layer (< 5 cm). SSM products are available in multiple formats (netCDF, BUFR) and provided as Near Real Time (NRT), Data Record (DR), and Interim DR (IDR) datasets.
Root Zone Soil Moisture (RZSM)
The root-zone soil moisture products are global gridded fields over the soil profile, represented by four vertical layers (0-7 cm, 7-28 cm, 28-100 cm and 100-289 cm depth). A dedicated land data assimilation system assimilates scatterometer-derived soil moisture into the ecLand model. The resulting soil moisture analysis is produced daily at 00 UTC.
LIST OF OPERATIONAL SOIL MOISTURE PRODUCTS
Near real time products
| Product |
Product code |
Status |
Parameter |
available in (hours) |
| RZSM-ASCAT-NRT-10 |
(H26) |
operational |
Surface soil moisture |
12 |
|
| SM-DAS-2 |
(H14) |
operational |
Root Zone soil moisture |
12 |
|
| ASCAT SSM NRT 6.25 km |
(H122) |
operational |
Surface soil moisture |
|
|
| ASCAT-DIS-SSM-NRT |
(H28) |
operational |
Surface soil moisture |
|
|
| ASCAT SSM NRT 12.5 km v2 |
(H29) |
operational |
Surface soil moisture |
|
|
Data Record and Interim Data Record Products
| Product |
Product code |
Status |
Parameter |
| ASCAT SSM CDR v7 12.5 km |
(H119) |
released |
Surface soil moisture |
|
| ASCAT SSM CDR v7 EXT 12.5 km |
(H120) |
released |
Surface soil moisture |
|
| ASCAT SSM CDR v7 EXT 12.5 km |
(H141) |
released |
Surface soil moisture |
|
| RZSM-DR-EXT-10km |
(H142) |
released |
Root Zone soil moisture |
|
| ASCAT SSM CDR v8 12.5 km |
(H121) |
released |
Surface soil moisture |
|
| ASCAT SSM CDR v1 6.25 km |
(H129) |
released |
Surface soil moisture |
|
| ASCAT SSM CDR v1 EXT 6.25 km |
(H130) |
released |
Surface soil moisture |
|
| ASCAT SSM CDR v8 EXT 12.5 km |
(H139) |
released |
Surface soil moisture |
|