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Soil Moisture/Water Content Data Access and Tools
NASA has soil moisture and water content datasets that help researchers characterize the condition of soil around the world. Access a range of data and data tools such as the Soil Moisture Visualizer, Crop Condition and Soil Moisture Analytics (Crop-CASMA), and AppEEARS to make the most of soil moisture data.
Soil Moisture/Water Content Datasets
| Dataset | Platforms | Instruments | Temporal Extent | Location Keywords | Spatial Extent | Data Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MERRA-2 tavgU_2d_lnd_Nx: 2d,diurnal,Time-Averaged,Single-Level,Assimilation,Land Surface Diagnostics 0.625 x 0.5 degree V5.12.4 (M2TUNXLND) at GES DISC | MERRA-2 | NOT APPLICABLE | 1980-01-01 to Present | GLOBAL | N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180 | |
| NACP MsTMIP: Global 0.5-degree Model Outputs in Standard Format, Version 1.0 | MODELS | Computer | 1900-01-01 to 2010-12-31 | N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180 | netCDF-4 classic | |
| NACP: Forest Carbon Stocks, Fluxes and Productivity Estimates, Western USA, 1979-2099 | MODELS | Computer | 1979-01-01 to 2099-12-31 | NEW MEXICO, OREGON, CALIFORNIA, NEVADA, UTAH | N: 49.0351 S: 31.1875 E: -101.961 W: -124.812 | netCDF-4 classic |
| NAMMA SENEGAL RADIOSONDE AND TOWER FLUX DATA V1 | GROUND STATIONS, RADIOSONDES | NET RADIOMETERS, GPS, HUMIDITY SENSORS, PRESSURE SENSORS, TELEMETER, TEMPERATURE SENSORS | 2006-08-19 to 2006-09-17 | SENEGAL | N: 15.5 S: 13.91 E: 17.09 W: -17.97 | ASCII |
| NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Land Information System (LIS) | COMPUTERS | 1981-01-01 to 2023-12-31 | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA | N: 52.915 S: 24.396 E: -66.885 W: -124.925 | ASCII, Binary, GRIB, GRIB2 | |
| NASMo-TiAM 250m 16-day North America Surface Soil Moisture Dataset | COMPUTERS | Computer | 2002-06-26 to 2020-12-31 | NORTH AMERICA | N: 82.7193 S: 14.5312 E: -39.9955 W: -180 | COG |
| NCA-LDAS Noah-3.3 Land Surface Model L4 Daily 0.125 x 0.125 degree V2.0 (NCALDAS_NOAH0125_D) at GES DISC | Noah-LSM | NOT APPLICABLE | 1979-01-02 to 2016-12-31 | NORTH AMERICA | N: 53 S: 25 E: -67 W: -125 | |
| NCA-LDAS Noah-3.3 Land Surface Model L4 Trends 0.125 x 0.125 degree V2.0 (NCALDAS_NOAH0125_Trends) at GES DISC | Noah-LSM | NOT APPLICABLE | 1979-10-01 to 2015-09-30 | NORTH AMERICA | N: 53 S: 25 E: -67 W: -125 | |
| Near Real-time SMAP L2 Radiometer Half-Orbit 36 km EASE-Grid Soil Moisture V107 | SMAP | SMAP L-BAND RADIOMETER | 2025-06-26 to Present | GLOBAL LAND | N: 85.044 S: -85.044 E: 180 W: -180 | HDF5 |
| Near Real-time SMAP L2 Radiometer Half-Orbit 36 km EASE-Grid Soil Moisture V107 | SMAP | SMAP L-BAND RADIOMETER | 2025-06-26 to Present | GLOBAL LAND | N: 85.044 S: -85.044 E: 180 W: -180 | HDF5 |
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Featured Observation Method: SMAP
The Soil Moisture Active-Passive (SMAP) platform is a satellite that measures the surface moisture and freeze-thaw state of soil around the world approximately every three days. SMAP data contributes to understanding regional water cycles, ecosystem productivity, and natural processes involving water, energy, and carbon. SMAP's high-resolution data are helpful for weather, flood, and drought forecasting, and predicting agricultural productivity.
GIBS now has Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) layers available for soil moisture and temperature, snow mass, heterotrophic respiration, and more.
This webinar will compare sea surface salinity data collected by the Aquarius and SMAP missions. We will showcase data visualization and data access tools available through NASA's Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center.
NASA's SMAP team turns raw satellite data into more than a dozen data products for data users around the world.
9 MIN READ
Feature article describing NASA's SMAP mission and the roles that ASF DAAC will play with distributing the SAR data.
Soil Moisture/Water Content Data Tools
| Tool Sort descending | Description | Services | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vertex | Vertex is a graphical search interface for finding synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. | Search and Discovery, Access, Downloading, Processing, Subsetting |
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