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Data Set ID:
AU_Land
AMSR-E/AMSR2 Unified L2B Half-Orbit 25 km EASE-Grid Surface Soil Moisture, Version 1
The AMSR-E/AMSR2 Unified Level-2B land product provides a long-term data record by combining AMSR-E and AMSR2 data. This data set includes surface soil moisture estimates derived from L1R brightness temperatures using the Normalized Polarization Difference algorithm (NPD) and the Single Channel Algorithm (SCA) along with ancillary information gridded to the 25 km Equal-Area Scalable Earth Grid (EASE-Grid).
This is the most recent version of these data.
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As a condition of using these data, you must cite the use of this data set using the following citation. For more information, see our Use and Copyright Web page.
Jackson, T., S. Chan, R. Bindlish, and E. G. Njoku. 2018. AMSR-E/AMSR2 Unified L2B Half-Orbit 25 km EASE-Grid Surface Soil Moisture, Version 1. [Indicate subset used]. Boulder, Colorado USA. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. doi: https://doi.org/10.5067/IKQ0G7ODMLC7. [Date Accessed].Collapse All / Open All
Detailed Data Description
Format
Level-2B soil moisture data consist of point data in Hierarchical Data Format - Earth Observing System5 (HDF-EOS5) format where the resulting grid is in a table format rather than a grid that image processing programs can easily visualize. Files contain core metadata, product-specific attributes, and data fields. The data fields are summarized in Tables 2 which use the data types in Table 1 in the field descriptions:
| Notation | Description |
|---|---|
| Float64: | 64-bit (8-byte) floating-point integer |
| Float32: | 32-bit (4-byte) floating-point integer |
| Int32: | 32-bit (4-byte) signed integer |
Note: The number of records per granule depends on the number of gridded points over land.
| Field Name | Data Type | Description | Units | Fill Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Float64 | Scan start time in International Atomic Time in seconds with 01 January 1993 00:00:00 as the zero base (TAI93). | Seconds | n/a |
| Latitude | Float64 | Latitude of the center of a 25-km EASEv1-Grid cell (-90.0 to 90.0) | degrees | 99 / 98 |
| Longitude | Float64 | Longitude of the center of a 25-km EASEv1-Grid cell (-180.0 to 180.0) | degrees | 999 / 998 |
| RowIndex | Int32 | EASE-Grid row index (1-586) | n/a | -9999 |
| ColumnIndex | Int32 | EASE-Grid column index (0-1382) | n/a | -9999 |
| TBH10r2* | Float32 | 10.7 GHz H-polarized brightness temperature (TB) | K | -9999 |
| TBV10r2 | Float32 | 10.7 GHz V-polarized TB | K | -9999 |
| TBH18r2 | Float32 | 18.7 GHz H-polarized TB | K | -9999 |
| TBV18r2 | Float32 | 18.7 GHz V-polarized TB | K | -9999 |
| TBH23r2 | Float32 | 23.8 GHz H-polarized TB | K | -9999 |
| TBV23r2 | Float32 | 23.8 GHz V-polarized TB | K | -9999 |
| TBH36r2 | Float32 | 36.5 GHz H-polarized TB | K | -9999 |
| TBV36r2 | Float32 | 36.5 GHz V-polarized TB | K | -9999 |
| TBH89r2 | Float32 | 89.0 GHz H-polarized TB | K | -9999 |
| TBV89r2 | Float32 | 89.0 GHz V-polarized TB | K | -9999 |
| VegetationRoughnessNPD | Float32 | Vegetation roughness | n/a | -9999 |
| SoilMoistureNPD | Float32 | Soil moisture as determined by the NPD algorithm | cm3/cm3 | -9999 |
| RetrievalQualityFlagNPD | Int32 | Value: 0= valid retrieval, 1= invalid retrieval | n/a | -9999 |
| SoilMoistureSCA | Float32 | Soil moisture as determined by the SCA algorithm, measured in volume fraction of water/soil | cm3/cm3 | -9999 |
| RetrievalQualityFlagSCA | Int32 | Value: 0= valid retrieval, 1= invalid retrieval | n/a | -9999 |
| FlagCountAllSamples** | Int32 | Number of TB footprints | n/a | n/a |
| FlagCountGoodSamples | Int32 | Number of good TB footprints | n/a | n/a |
| FlagCountRFI | Int32 | Number of RFI contaminated TB footprints | n/a | n/a |
| FlagCountInvalidTBRange | Int32 | Number of out of range TB footprints | n/a | n/a |
| FlagCountWater | Int32 | Number of TB footprints over water | n/a | n/a |
| FlagCountIce | Int32 | Number of TB footprints over ice | n/a | n/a |
| FlagCountSnow | Int32 | Number of TB footprints over snow | n/a | n/a |
| FlagCountFrozenGround | Int32 | Number of TB footprints over frozen ground | n/a | n/a |
| FlagCountRain | Int32 | Number of TB footprints over rain | n/a | n/a |
| FlagCountWetland | Int32 | Number of TB footprints over wetland | n/a | n/a |
| FlagCountUrban | Int32 | Number of TB footprints over an urban area | n/a | n/a |
| FlagCountLow2ModerateVWC | Int32 | Number of TB footprints over low to moderate vegetation water content | n/a | n/a |
| FlagCountDenseVWC | Int32 | Number of TB footprints over dense vegetation water content | n/a | n/a |
| FlagCountMissingSoilTexture | Int32 | Numberof TB footprints over missing soil texture data | n/a | n/a |
| FlagCountMissingNDVI | Int32 | Number of TB footprints over missing NDVI data | n/a | n/a |
*All gridded Brightness Temperatures are derived from the JAXA L1R Resolution 2 (resolution of the 10 GHz channels) TB data.
**All SCA flag values are related to pixels initially identified as land. All SCA flag values are per grid cell.
Sample Data Record
Figure 1 is a sample of some of the data fields for soil moisture data.
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File Naming Convention
This section explains the file naming convention used for this product with an example. The date and time correspond to the first scan of the granule.
Example file name: AMSR_U2_L2_Land_B02_201610260414_D.h5
AMSR_Ui_L2_Land_X##_yyyymmddhhmm_f.he5
Refer to Table 3 for the valid values for the file name variables listed above.
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
| AMSR | Satellite sensor |
| Ui | Indicates the sensor used (i=2 for AMSR2) |
| L2 | Level-2 data |
| X | Product Maturity Code (Refer to Table 4 for valid values.) |
| ## | version number |
| yyyy | four-digit year |
| mm | two-digit month |
| dd | two-digit day |
| hh | hour, listed in UTC time, of first scan in the file |
| mm | minute, listed in UTC time, of first scan in the file |
| f | orbit direction flag (A = ascending, D = descending) |
| he5 | HDF-EOS5 data format |
| Product Maturity Code | Description |
|---|---|
P |
Preliminary - refers to non-standard, near-real-time data available from NSIDC. These data are only available for a limited time until the corresponding standard product is ingested at NSIDC. |
B |
Beta - indicates a developing algorithm with updates anticipated. |
T |
Transitional - period between beta and validated where the product is past the beta stage, but not quite ready for validation. This is where the algorithm matures and stabilizes. |
V |
Validated - products are upgraded to Validated once the algorithm is verified by the algorithm team and validated by the validation teams. Validated products have an associated validation stage. Refer to Table 5 for a description of the stages. |
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File Size and Volume
Each half-orbit granule is on the average 1.8 MB. The actual size depends on the number of gridded points over land.
The volume of the data set is ~11.9 MB/day.
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Spatial Coverage
Spatial Coverage Map
The following map shows the typical coverage of a single granule.
Coverage is global between 89.24° N and 89.24° S, except for snow-covered and densely-vegetated areas. See AMSR-E Pole Hole page for a description of holes that occur at the North and South Poles. The swath width is 1450 km.
Spatial Resolution
Input brightness temperature data for all channels are resampled to a global cylindrical 25 km EASE-Grid cell spacing and have an effective spatial resolution of approximately 48 km (resolution of the 10.7 GHz channel).
Projection
The projection is EASE-Grid.
Grid Description
Level-1R brightness temperatures are resampled to a global cylindrical EASE-Grid (1383 columns by 586 rows) with a nominal grid spacing of 25 km (true at 30° S). The data consist of HDF-EOS point data where the resulting grid is in table format, rather than a grid that image processing programs can easily visualize. In the case of the Level-2R soil moisture data, each geophysical variable value has a corresponding EASE-Grid row and column index.
Please refer to All About EASE-Grid for more information on related products and tools.
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Temporal Coverage
Temporal coverage is July 02, 2012 to present for AMSR2 data.
Temporal Resolution
Each swath spans approximately 50 minutes. The data sampling interval is 2.6 msec per sample for the 6.9 GHz to 36.5 GHz channels, and 1.3 msec for the 89.0 GHz channel. A full scan takes approximately 1.5 seconds. Both AMSR-E and AMSR2 collect 243 data points per scan for the 6.9 GHz to 36.5 GHz channels, and 486 data points for the 89.0 GHz channel.
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Parameter or Variable
Surface soil moisture is the parameter for this data set.
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Software and Tools
Software and Tools
For tools that work with HDF-EOS data, refer to the NSIDC: Hierarchical Data Format - Earth Observing System (HDF-EOS) Web site.
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Data Acquisition and Processing
NOTE: Backprocessing of the AMSR-E and AMSR2 data is ongoing. Forward processing continues for the AMSR2 data.
Data Source
The AMSR-U data consists of resampled L1R brightness temperatures, geolocation information, metadata, quality assessment flags, and ancillary data from two sensors: AMSR-E and AMSR2.
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Derivation Techniques and Algorithms
Processing of the AMSR-E/AMSR2 Unified data set includes both an updated Normalized Polarization Difference (NPD) algorithm and the first standard Single Channel Algorithm (SCA). NPD and SCA codes are integrated together to create consistent AMSR-E and AMSR2 soil moisture products. Due to radio frequency interference (RFI) observed in the C-band, both algorithms use X-band observations to derive the soil moisture product. For more information regarding these two algorithms, please see AMSR2 Global Soil Moisture Retrievals Using the Normalized Polarization Difference (NPD) Algorithm and Single Channel Algorithm (SCA).
NPD Algorithm
The foundation of this algorithm is the use of the Microwave Polarization Difference Index (MPDI), which uses normalized polarization differences of the AMSR channel TB. Normalized polarization difference is the difference between the vertical and horizontal TB at a given frequency divided by their sum. The MPDI can be approximated in a form that is independent of surface temperature and has separable soil moisture and vegetation dependencies. See Njoku and Chan 2006 and ATBD referenced above for a more detailed explanation. Also, refer to Njoku et al. (2004) for an assessment of calibration biases over land, and methods used to correct these biases.
SCA Algorithm
The SCA approach uses horizontally polarized (h-pol) TB observations from the lowest frequency channel available (in this case, 10.7 GHz) due to its highest sensitivity to soil moisture observations. The SCA approach is based on the simplified radiative transfer model developed under the assumption of minimal atmospheric contribution and equal canopy and soil temperature (Jackson 1993). The SCA is applied to the individual AMSR-E footprint TB observations (L2) to produce a swath-based time-order product.
In the SCA approach, TBs are converted to emissivity using a surrogate for the effective physical temperature (T) of the emitting layer. The derived emissivity (eobs) is corrected for vegetation and surface roughness to obtain the smooth soil emissivity (esmooth). At this point, the Fresnel equation is used to determine the dielectric constant of the soil-water mixture (k). As a last step, the AMSR-E SCA uses Wang and Schmugge (1980) dielectric mixing model to estimate soil moisture (SM). For more detailed information, refer to the ATBD mentioned above.
Processing Steps
AMSR-U consists of the completed AMSR-E dataset and the ongoing AMSR2 dataset, processed using the JAXA L1R as input and joint algorithms (NPD and SCA) for processing. All L1R input data is ingested via internet transfer to the Science Investigator-led Processing System (SIPS) at the Global Hydrology Resource Center Distributed Active Archive Center (GHRC). A granule is defined as one-half of one orbit, the division being at the poles, so that a granule is descending (North Pole to South Pole) or ascending (South Pole to North Pole). There are approximately 29 Level 1R granules per day. The AMSR-U Level 2B land product is generated at the AMSR SIPS and includes metadata and browse imagery. These data are re-mapped to a 25 km Equal-Area Scalable Earth Grid (EASE-Grid). Each granule is stored in HDF-EOS5 format. More information is forthcoming.
Version History
See AMSR-E Data Versions for a summary of algorithm changes since the start of mission.
Error Sources
Quality Assessment
Each HDF-EOS file contains core metadata with Quality Assessment (QA) metadata flags, RetrievalQualityFlagNPD and RetrievalQualityFlagSCA, that are set by the SIPS-GHRC prior to delivery to NSIDC. A separate metadata file (.xml file extension) is also delivered to NSIDC with the HDF-EOS file; it contains the same information as the core metadata. Three levels of QA are conducted with the AMSR-E Level 2: automatic, operational, and science QA. If a product does not fail QA, it is ready to be used for higher-level-processing, browse generation, active science QA, archive, and distribution. If a granule fails QA, SIPS does not send the granule to NSIDC until it is reprocessed (Conway 2002).
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Sensor or Instrument Description
For detailed descriptions of the AMSR-E and AMSR2 instruments, refer to the AMSR-E Instrument Description and AMSR2 Channel Specification and Products respectively.
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References and Related Publications
Contacts and Acknowledgments
Investigator(s) Name and Title
Thomas Jackson
United States Department of Agriculture
Agricultural Research Service
Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory
Beltsville, MD 20705 USA
Steven Chan
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
M/S 300-362A
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA 91109
Rajat Bindlish
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Hydrological Sciences Laboratory
Code 617, Bldg 33, G216
Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA
Eni G. Njoku
NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
M/S 300-233
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA 91109 USA
Document Information
DOCUMENT CREATION DATE
December 2016
DOCUMENT REVISION DATE
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