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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Description
SMAP Level-4 (L4) surface and root zone soil moisture data are provided in three products:
SMAP L4 Global 3-hourly 9 km EASE-Grid Surface and Root Zone Soil Moisture Geophysical Data (SPL4SMGP, DOI: 10.5067/9LNYIYOBNBR5)
SMAP L4 Global 3-hourly 9 km EASE-Grid Surface and Root Zone Soil Moisture Analysis Update (SPL4SMAU, DOI: 10.5067/0D8JT6S27BS9)
SMAP L4 Global 9 km EASE-Grid Surface and Root Zone Soil Moisture Land Model Constants (SPL4SMLM, DOI: 10.5067/5C36BVQZW28K).
For each product, SMAP L-band brightness temperature data from descending and ascending half-orbit satellite passes (approximately 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. local solar time, respectively) are assimilated into a land surface model that is gridded using an Earth-fixed, global cylindrical 9 km Equal-Area Scalable Earth Grid, Version 2.0 (EASE-Grid 2.0) projection.
Version Description
Changes to this version include:
- The Level-4 soil moisture algorithm was re-calibrated to work with the substantially changed calibration of the assimilated Level-1C brightness temperatures.
- The brightness temperature scaling parameters in the updated Level-4 soil moisture algorithm are based on five years of SMAP observations (April 2015 – March 2020).
- The land surface modeling system underpinning the updated Level-4 soil moisture algorithm was revised in the following ways:
* Improved surface aerodynamic roughness length (z0) formulation, including use of a stem area index.
* Corrected an error in the fitting procedure used for one of the topography-related functions in the Catchment model, which potentially affected the simulation of soil moisture in about 2% of all land surface elements (De Lannoy et al. 2014).
* Updated calibration of the microwave radiative transfer model parameters.
- The updated Level-4 soil moisture algorithm includes major software upgrades, including full compliance with the Earth System Modeling Framework, a modular and extensible software design approach, for improved support of future science development.
- Minor bug fixes.
For the full major and minor version history, go to https://nsidc.org/data/smap/data_versions.
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.
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Reichle, R., De Lannoy, G., Koster, R., Crow, W., Kimball, J., & Liu, Q. (2020). SMAP L4 Global 3-hourly 9 km EASE-Grid Surface and Root Zone Soil Moisture Geophysical Data, Version 5 [Data set]. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/9LNYIYOBNBR5 Date Accessed: 2026-06-13
Reichle, Rolf, Gabrielle De Lannoy, Randal Koster, Wade Crow, John Kimball, and Qing Liu. “SMAP L4 Global 3-Hourly 9 Km EASE-Grid Surface and Root Zone Soil Moisture Geophysical Data, Version 5.” NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center, 2020. doi:10.5067/9LNYIYOBNBR5. Date Accessed: 2026-06-13
Reichle, Rolf, et al. SMAP L4 Global 3-Hourly 9 Km EASE-Grid Surface and Root Zone Soil Moisture Geophysical Data, Version 5. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center, 2020, doi:10.5067/9LNYIYOBNBR5. Date Accessed: 2026-06-13