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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/EVKPQZ4AFC4D)
SMAP L4 Global 3-hourly 9 km EASE-Grid Surface and Root Zone Soil Moisture Analysis Update (SPL4SMAU, DOI: 10.5067/LWJ6TF5SZRG3)
SMAP L4 Global 9 km EASE-Grid Surface and Root Zone Soil Moisture Land Model Constants (SPL4SMLM, DOI: 10.5067/KN96XNPZM4EG).
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 Catchment model now includes the PEATCLSM hydrology module for peatlands and uses an updated global map of peatland distribution.
- Revised parameters are used in the L-band radiative transfer model that converts the simulated soil moisture and temperature estimates into Tb predictions for the radiance-based L4_SM analysis. Specifically, the L-band parameters for scattering albedo climatology, soil roughness climatology, and (seasonally-varying) vegetation opacity climatology are obtained from the SPL2SMP_E, Version 5, dual-channel retrieval product (April 2015 - March 2022).
- The brightness temperature scaling parameters in the updated Level-4 soil moisture algorithm are based on seven years of SMAP observations and model simulations (April 2015 - March 2022).
- For peatlands, the EnKF state vector now additionally includes the "catchment deficit" model prognostic variable.
For the full major and minor version history, go to https://nsidc.org/data/smap/version-history
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., & Bechtold, M. (2022). SMAP L4 Global 3-hourly 9 km EASE-Grid Surface and Root Zone Soil Moisture Geophysical Data, Version 7 [Dataset]. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/EVKPQZ4AFC4D Date Accessed: 2026-08-01
Reichle, R., De Lannoy, G., Koster, R., Crow, W., Kimball, J., Liu, Q., & Bechtold, M. (2022). SMAP L4 Global 3-hourly 9 km EASE-Grid Surface and Root Zone Soil Moisture Geophysical Data, Version 7 [Dataset]. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/EVKPQZ4AFC4D Date Accessed: 2026-08-01
Reichle, Rolf, et al. “SMAP L4 Global 3-Hourly 9 Km EASE-Grid Surface and Root Zone Soil Moisture Geophysical Data, Version 7.” NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center, 2022, https://doi.org/10.5067/EVKPQZ4AFC4D. Date Accessed: 2026-08-01
Johnston, Miriam R., Barnes, Mallory L., Preisler, Yakir, Smith, William K., Biederman, Joel A., Scott, Russell L., Williams, A. Park, Dannenberg, Matthew P.
Cigarra-Guinez, Lorenzo E., Lagos, Octavio, Steduto, Pasquale, Krogh, Sebastian A., Shapiro, Kristen, Souto, Camilo, Lillo-Saavedra, Mario, Balbontin, Claudio, Zaccaria, Daniele