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Description

This Level-3 (L3) soil moisture product provides a composite of daily estimates of global land surface conditions retrieved by the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) passive microwave radiometer. SMAP L-band soil moisture data are resampled to a global, cylindrical 36 km Equal-Area Scalable Earth Grid, Version 2.0 (EASE-Grid 2.0).

Version Description

Changes to this version include: (1) Added 6:00 p.m. ascending half orbits, which provide more frequent regional/global coverage (critical in flood monitoring); soil moisture diurnal variability information (useful in data assimilation systems); and consistency with other similar satellite-based soil moisture products. (2) Derived frozen ground flag (bit 7 of surface_flag) autonomously using Normalized Polarization Ration (NPR)-based passive freeze-thaw retrieval; replaces former radar-based freeze/thaw flag.

Product Summary

Platforms
SMAP
Instruments
SMAP L-BAND RADAR
Spatial Extent

N: 85.044 S: -85.044 E: 180 W: -180

Spatial Resolution
36 Kilometers x 36 Kilometers
Location
GLOBAL LAND
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
CARTESIAN
Temporal Extent
2015-03-31 to 2018-06-03
Temporal Resolution
1 Day
Concept ID
C4112448319-NSIDC_CPRD
Data State
DEPRECATED
Number of Files/Granules
0
Processing Level
3
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Brightness Temperature ,
Soil Moisture/Water Content

Citation

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.

Copy Citation

ONeill, P., Chan, S., Njoku, E., Jackson, T., & Bindlish, R. (2016). SMAP L3 Radiometer Global Daily 36 km EASE-Grid Soil Moisture, Version 4 [Data set]. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/OBBHQ5W22HME Date Accessed: 2026-06-13

Documents

Publications Citing This Dataset

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Title Year Author Topic
Assessing SMAP for enhanced wildfire danger prediction in boreal-Arctic ecosystems Bourgeau-Chavez, Laura L., Hanes, Chelene, Billmire, Michael, Bosse, Karl, Battaglia, Michael J., Colliander, Andreas Soil Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content, Soil Horizons/Profile, Soil Depth, Active Layer, Brightness Temperature, Surface Soil Moisture
A global dataset of remote sensing-based soil critical point and permanent wilting point Xu, Yawei, He, Qing, Lu, Hui, Yang, Kun, Entekhabi, Dara, Short Gianotti, Daniel J. Precipitation, Precipitation Amount, Precipitation Rate, Snow, Rain, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Plant Phenology, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content
Optimal index insurance and basis risk decomposition: an application to Stigler, Matthieu, Lobell, David Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content
Characterizing the accuracy of satellite-based products to detect soil Min, Xiaoxiao, Li, Danlu, Shangguan, YuLin, Tian, Shuo, Shi, Zhou Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content
Diagnosing Product Variability in the Soil Moisture Response to Precipitation on the Tibetan Plateau Meng, X., Deng, M., Talib, J., Taylor, C. M., Wu, P., Lyu, S., Chen, H., Li, Z., Zhao, L. Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content
Evaluating Satellite Soil Moisture Datasets for Drought Monitoring in Bhardwaj, Jessica, Kuleshov, Yuriy, Chua, Zhi-Weng, Watkins, Andrew B., Choy, Suelynn, Sun, Qian (Chayn) Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content
Improving CyGNSS-Based Land Remote Sensing: Track-Wise Data Calibration Yan, Qingyun, Hu, Ting, Jin, Shuanggen, Huang, Weimin, Jia, Yan, Chen, Tiexi, Wang, Jian Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content
Uncertainty analysis of eleven multisource soil moisture products in the third pole environment based on the three-corned hat method Liu, Jin, Chai, Linna, Dong, Jianzhi, Zheng, Donghai, Wigneron, J.-P., Liu, Shaomin, Zhou, Ji, Xu, Tongren, Yang, Shiqi, Song, Yongze, Qu, Yuquan, Lu, Zheng SIGMA NAUGHT, Soil Moisture/Water Content, Brightness Temperature
A Unified Data-Driven Method to Derive Hydrologic Dynamics From Global Mao, Yixin, Crow, Wade T., Nijssen, Bart Precipitation, Precipitation Amount, Precipitation Rate, Snow, Rain, Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content
Impact of temporal variations in vegetation optical depth and vegetation Monsivais-Huertero, Alejandro, Hernandez-Sanchez, Juan Carlos, Jimenez-Escalona, Jose Carlos, Galeana-Pizana, Jose Mauricio, Constantino-Recillas, Daniel Enrique, Torres-Gomez, Aura Citlalli, Magagi, Ramata, Goita, Kalifa, Couturier, Stephane Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content
Improving SMAP freeze-thaw retrievals for pavements using effective soil temperature from GEOS-5: Evaluation against in situ road temperature data over the US Kraatz, Simon, Jacobs, Jennifer M., Schroder, Ronny, Cho, Eunsang, Miller, Heather J., Vuyovich, Carrie M. Brightness Temperature, SIGMA NAUGHT, Soil Moisture/Water Content, Transition Direction
Dual state/rainfall correction via soil moisture assimilation for improved streamflow simulation: evaluation of a large-scale implementation with Soil Moisture ... Mao, Yixin, Crow, Wade T., Nijssen, Bart Surface Pressure, Longwave Radiation, Shortwave Radiation, Surface Temperature, Evaporation, Humidity, Convection, Surface Winds, Rain, Land Surface Temperature, Precipitation, Precipitation Amount, Precipitation Rate, Snow, Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content
Evaluating the Potential and Challenges of an Uncertainty Quantification Fang, Kuai, Kifer, Daniel, Lawson, Kathryn, Shen, Chaopeng Surface Pressure, Longwave Radiation, Shortwave Radiation, Surface Temperature, Evaporation, Humidity, Convection, Surface Winds, Rain, Land Surface Temperature, Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content
OBSERVATION-DRIVEN ESTIMATION OF SURFACE WATER BALANCE COMPONENTS FROM Akbar, Ruzbeh, Short Gianotti, Daniel J., McColl, Kaighin A., Salvucci, Guido D., Entekhabi, Dara Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content
Simultaneous retrieval of surface roughness parameters for bare soils from combined activepassive microwave SMAP observations Fluhrer, Anke, Jagdhuber, Thomas, Akbar, Ruzbeh, O'Neill, Peggy E., Entekhabi, Dara Carbon, Cation Exchange Capacity, Organic Matter, ORBITAL CHARACTERISTICS, RADAR IMAGERY, SIGMA NAUGHT, Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content, Transition Direction
Terrestrial Evaporation and Moisture Drainage in a Warmer Climate Short Gianotti, Daniel J., Akbar, Ruzbeh, Feldman, Andrew F., Salvucci, Guido D., Entekhabi, Dara Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content
Timing is Everything-Drought Classification for Risk Assessment Graw, Valerie, Ghazaryan, Gohar, Schreier, Jonas, Gonzalez, Javier, Abdel-Hamid, Ayman, Walz, Yvonne, Dall, Karen, Post, Joachim, Jordaan, Andries, Dubovyk, Olena Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content
A framework for diagnosing factors degrading the streamflow performance of a soil moisture data assimilation system Mao, Yixin, Crow, Wade T., Nijssen, Bart Surface Pressure, Longwave Radiation, Shortwave Radiation, Surface Temperature, Evaporation, Humidity, Convection, Surface Winds, Rain, Land Surface Temperature, Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content
Investigating Relationship Between Soil Moisture and Precipitation Globally Using Remote Sensing Observations Sehler, Robin, Li, Jingjing, Reager, JT, Ye, Hengchun Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content
Enhanced Firn Densification in High-Accumulation Shear Margins of the NE Riverman, K. L., Alley, R. B., Anandakrishnan, S., Christianson, K., Holschuh, N. D., Medley, B., Muto, A., Peters, L. E. Glacier Elevation/Ice Sheet Elevation, Ice Roughness, Glacier Topography/Ice Sheet Topography, RADAR IMAGERY, Sea Ice Elevation, Sea Ice Elevation, Snow Cover, Ice Velocity, Glacier Topography/Ice Sheet Topography, Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content
Simultaneous retrieval of surface roughness parameters from combined active-passive SMAP observations Fluhrer, Anke, Jagdhuber, Thomas, Akbar, Ruzbeh, O'Neill, Peggy, Entekhabi, Dara ORBITAL CHARACTERISTICS, RADAR IMAGERY, SIGMA NAUGHT, Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content, Transition Direction
Satellite and Station Observations Demonstrate Water Availability's Effect on Continental-Scale Evaporative and Photosynthetic Land Surface Dynamics Short Gianotti, Daniel J., Rigden, Angela J., Salvucci, Guido D., Entekhabi, Dara Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content
Validation of SMAP Soil Moisture Products Using Ground-Based Singh, Gurjeet, Das, Narendra N., Panda, Rabindra K., Colliander, Andreas, Jackson, Thomas J., Mohanty, Binayak P., Entekhabi, Dara, Yueh, Simon H. Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content
Thermal Weakening, Convergent Flow, and Vertical Heat Transport in the Holschuh, N., Lilien, D. A., Christianson, K. Ice Velocity, Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content
A New Soil Moisture Downscaling Approach for SMAP, SMOS, and ASCAT by Montzka, Carsten, Rotzer, Kathrina, Bogena, Heye, Sanchez, Nilda, Vereecken, Harry Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content
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