SMAP L4 Global 3-hourly 9 km EASE-Grid Surface and Root Zone Soil Moisture Geophysical Data, Version 6
Data set id:
SPL4SMGP
DOI: 10.5067/08S1A6811J0U
There is a more recent version of these data.
Version Summary
Version Summary
Changes to this version include:
• The climatology to which all L4_SM precipitation forcing inputs are rescaled is now based on the climatology of the NASA IMERG-Final (Version 06B) product. Where the IMERG climatology is not available (primarily poleward of 60ºN latitude), L4_SM precipitation inputs are rescaled to the climatology of the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) v2.3 product.
• The L4_SM precipitation forcing outside of North America and the high latitudes is now corrected to match the daily totals from the NASA IMERG (Version 06B) product. As in Version 5, precipitation corrections based on CPCU data are used in North America. The latitude band for the linear tapering of the daily precipitation corrections is now 50-60ºN/S. The IMERG-Final product, which is informed by satellite observations and monthly totals from precipitation gauges, was used during L4_SM reprocessing. Forward-processing of L4_SM uses the satellite-only IMERG-Late product, which is not informed by precipitation gauges. A change in the L4_SM Science Version ID indicates the switch from IMERG-Final to IMERG-Late inputs.
• Minor change in a parameter related to the multiplicative, lognormal perturbations of precipitation and shortwave radiation forcing to reduce minor bias between perturbed and unperturbed forcing.
The brightness temperature scaling parameters in the updated Level-4 soil moisture algorithm are based on six years of SMAP observations (April 2015 – March 2021).
• The climatology to which all L4_SM precipitation forcing inputs are rescaled is now based on the climatology of the NASA IMERG-Final (Version 06B) product. Where the IMERG climatology is not available (primarily poleward of 60ºN latitude), L4_SM precipitation inputs are rescaled to the climatology of the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) v2.3 product.
• The L4_SM precipitation forcing outside of North America and the high latitudes is now corrected to match the daily totals from the NASA IMERG (Version 06B) product. As in Version 5, precipitation corrections based on CPCU data are used in North America. The latitude band for the linear tapering of the daily precipitation corrections is now 50-60ºN/S. The IMERG-Final product, which is informed by satellite observations and monthly totals from precipitation gauges, was used during L4_SM reprocessing. Forward-processing of L4_SM uses the satellite-only IMERG-Late product, which is not informed by precipitation gauges. A change in the L4_SM Science Version ID indicates the switch from IMERG-Final to IMERG-Late inputs.
• Minor change in a parameter related to the multiplicative, lognormal perturbations of precipitation and shortwave radiation forcing to reduce minor bias between perturbed and unperturbed forcing.
The brightness temperature scaling parameters in the updated Level-4 soil moisture algorithm are based on six years of SMAP observations (April 2015 – March 2021).
Overview
This data set is retired and no longer available for download. We recommend using the newest version of SMAP L4 Global 3-hourly 9 km EASE-Grid Surface and Root Zone Soil Moisture Geophysical Data (SPL4SMGP) data set as an alternative.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.
Parameter(s):
ROOT ZONE SOIL MOISTURESURFACE SOIL MOISTURE
Platform(s):
GEOS-5, SMAP
Sensor(s):
NOT APPLICABLE, SMAP L-BAND RADIOMETER
Data Format(s):
HDF5
Temporal Coverage:
31 March 2015 to 14 November 2022
Temporal Resolution:
- 3 hour
Spatial Resolution:
- 9 km
- 9 km
Spatial Reference System(s):
WGS 84 / NSIDC EASE-Grid 2.0 Global
EPSG:6933
Spatial Coverage:
N:
85.044
S:
-85.044
E:
180
W:
-180
Blue outlined yellow areas on the map below indicate the spatial coverage for this data set.
Data Access & Tools
This data set has been retired. There is a more recent version of these data.
Documentation
User Guide
ATBDs
General Resources
Quality Assessment Reports
Product Specification Documents
Help Articles
General Questions & FAQs
OPeNDAP, the Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol, is a NASA community standard DAP that provides a simple way for researchers to access and work with data over the internet.
SMAP Ancillary data sets are used to produce SMAP Level-1, -2, -3, and -4 standard data products.
The following table describes both the required and actual latencies for the different SMAP radiometer data sets. Latency is defined as the time (# days, hh:mm:ss) from data acquisition to product generation.
This short article describes the customization services available for SMAP data using Earthdata Search.
There are a few reasons that the soil moisture data values in SMAP Level-4 data products may vary from what you expect in a particular region. The first step a data user should take in investigating apparently anomalous values is to look at the rich quality information and other data flags c
The surface and root zone soil moisture estimates in the SMAP Level-4 soil moisture products are the outputs of a land surface model into which SMAP observations of brightness temperature have been assimilated.
How to Articles
Many NSIDC DAAC data sets can be accessed using the NSIDC DAAC's Data Access Tool. This tool provides the ability to search and filter data with spatial and temporal constraints using a map-based interface.Users have the option to
To convert HDF5 files into binary format you will need to use the h5dump utility, which is part of the HDF5 distribution available from the HDF Group. How you install HDF5 depends on your operating system.
This step-by-step tutorial demonstrates how to access MODIS and SMAP data using the Application for Extracting and Exploring Analysis Ready Samples (AppEEARS). AppEEARS allows users to access, explore, and download point and area data with spatial, temporal, and parameter subsets.
The following are instructions on how to import and geolocate SMAP Level-3 Radiometer Soil Moisture HDF5 data in ENVI.
Testing notes
Software: ENVI
Software version: 5.3
Platform: Windows 7
This How to guide outlines the steps for properly importing, projecting and visualizing HDF and NetCDF files in ArcMap. A couple of things to note before you start:
Data subscriptions are available for select NSIDC DAAC data collections. Once signed up, the subscription service automatically sends you new data as they are delivered from active NASA satellite missions.
All data from the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) can be accessed directly from our HTTPS file system, using wget or curl. Basic command line instructions are provided in the article below.
NASA Earthdata Search is a map-based interface where a user can search for Earth science data, filter results based on spatial and temporal constraints, and order data with customizations including re-formatting, re-projecting, and spatial and parameter subsetting.
NASA Worldview is a map interface that allows users to interactively browse imagery, create visualizations, and download the underlying data.
NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS) provides up to date, full resolution imagery for selected NSIDC DAAC data sets.