Global Soil Moisture Data from MetOp Satellites

Global, coarse-resolution soil moisture data (25-50 km) are derived from backscatter measurements acquired with scatterometers onboard the satellites ERS-1 and ERS-2 (1991 to present) and the three MetOp satellites (2006-2020). Two different product types are derived:



* Level 2 products representing the soil moisture content within a thin soil surface layer (< 2 cm) during the time of overflight of the satellite. * Level 3 products representing the water content in the soil profile, regularly sampled in space and time. The Level 2 surface soil moisture (SSM) data are derived using a change detection method that relies upon the multi-incidence observation capabilities of the ERS and METOP scatterometers to model the effects of vegetation phenology. The surface soil moisture values are scaled between 0 and 1, representing zero soil moisture and saturation respectively. Retrieval is not possible over tropical forest which affects about 6.5% of the land surface area.

Balance of Articles and access the MetOp Global Soil Moisture Geodata