N: 85.044 S: -85.044 E: 180 W: -180
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Description
This Level-3 (L3) soil moisture product provides a composite of daily estimates of global land surface conditions retrieved by the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) passive microwave radiometer. SMAP L-band soil moisture data are resampled to a global, cylindrical 36 km Equal-Area Scalable Earth Grid, Version 2.0 (EASE-Grid 2.0).
Version Description
Changes to this version include:
- Improved calibration methodology was applied to the Level-1B radiometer brightness temperatures.
- Improved land surface model outputs from the NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) were used to estimate the effective soil temperature used as input to Level-2 soil moisture geophysical inversion. This effective soil temperature is not to be confused with the physical soil temperature at a given depth (Choudhury et al., 1982).
- Improved retrieval performance of DCA (formerly known as MDCA or "the option 3" option algorithm in previous releases). DCA retrieves both soil moisture and vegetation optical depth (VOD or tau).
- Use of a new global 250-meter resolution soils database called SoilGrid250m available at https://openlandmap.org. Work is underway to address limited spatial anomalies of these soil property estimates at high latitudes over areas rich in organic soils.
- Added 30 new soil moisture retrieval fields associated with the two optional algorithms used in Level-2 soil moisture processing.
- Data quality flags were updated and corrected where faulty.
- The baseline algorithm (SCA-V) remains unchanged.
For the full major and minor version history, go to https://nsidc.org/data/smap/version-history
Product Summary
Platforms
Instruments
Spatial Extent
Spatial Resolution
36 Kilometers x 36 Kilometers
Spatial Reference System(s)
WGS 84 / NSIDC EASE-Grid 2.0 Global (EPSG:6933)
Location
GLOBAL LAND
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
CARTESIAN
Temporal Extent
2015-03-31 to 2021-10-28
Temporal Resolution
1 Day
Concept ID
C2872767312-NSIDC_CPRD
Data State
DEPRECATED
Number of Files/Granules
0
Processing Level
3
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Surface Soil Moisture
Citation
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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ONeill, P., Chan, S., Njoku, E., Jackson, T., Bindlish, R., & Chaubell, J. (2020). SMAP L3 Radiometer Global Daily 36 km EASE-Grid Soil Moisture, Version 7 [Dataset]. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/HH4SZ2PXSP6A Date Accessed: 2026-08-18
@misc{oneill_chan_njoku_jackson_bindlish_chaubell_2020,
title={SMAP L3 Radiometer Global Daily 36 km EASE-Grid Soil Moisture, Version 7},
url={http://nsidc.org/data/SPL3SMP/versions/7},
DOI={10.5067/HH4SZ2PXSP6A},
publisher={NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center},
author={ONeill, Peggy and Chan, Steven and Njoku, Eni and Jackson, Thomas and Bindlish, Rajat and Chaubell, Julian},
year={2020},
}
ONeill, P., Chan, S., Njoku, E., Jackson, T., Bindlish, R., & Chaubell, J. (2020). SMAP L3 Radiometer Global Daily 36 km EASE-Grid Soil Moisture, Version 7 [Dataset]. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/HH4SZ2PXSP6A Date Accessed: 2026-08-18
ONeill, Peggy, et al. “SMAP L3 Radiometer Global Daily 36 Km EASE-Grid Soil Moisture, Version 7.” NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center, 2020, https://doi.org/10.5067/HH4SZ2PXSP6A. Date Accessed: 2026-08-18
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Documents
ALGORITHM THEORETICAL BASIS DOCUMENT (ATBD)
DATA PRODUCT SPECIFICATION
PRODUCT QUALITY ASSESSMENT
Publications Citing This Dataset
Filters
| Title | Year Sort ascending | Author | Topic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transferring soil moisture estimation skills to evapotranspiration and | Feng, Huihui, Zhou, Jianhong, Wu, Zhiyong, Dong, Jianzhi, Zhao, Long, Brocca, Luca, He, Hai | Carbon, Cation Exchange Capacity, Organic Matter, Surface Soil Moisture | |
| SMAP Soil Moisture Measurement in Hungary over Agricultural Land | Tornay, Eniko, Kugler, Zsofia | Surface Soil Moisture | |
| Optimizing Soil Moisture-Runoff Coupling Strength With Remotely Sensed | Feng, Huihui, Zhou, Jianhong, Wu, Zhiyong, Dong, Jianzhi, Brocca, Luca, Zhao, Long, He, Hai, Fan, Hui | Carbon, Cation Exchange Capacity, Organic Matter, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Surface Soil Moisture | |
| Spatiotemporal Seamless Estimation of Global Surface Soil Moisture Using Triple Collocation, Machine Learning, and Data Assimilation | Xu, Lei, Ye, Zhenni, Dai, Jin, Li, Qi, Hong, Youting, Tao, Yun, Yu, Hongchu, Zhang, Chong, Chen, Zeqiang, Chen, Nengcheng | Carbon, Nitrogen, Soil Water Holding Capacity, Soil Bulk Density, Soil Chemistry, Soil Classification, Soil Moisture/Water Content, Soil Horizons/Profile, Surface Pressure, Heat Flux, Longwave Radiation, Shortwave Radiation, Surface Temperature, Humidity, Evapotranspiration, Surface Winds, Rain, Precipitation Rate, Snow, Soil Temperature, Land Surface Temperature, Snow Water Equivalent, Runoff, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Surface Soil Moisture, Soil Depth, Soil Porosity, Soil Texture, Terrain Elevation | |
| Can Typical Land Surface Model Parameterizations Support the Expected | Zhou, Jianhong, Dong, Jianzhi, Feng, Huihui, Yang, Kun, Crow, Wade T., Wu, Zhiyong, Tian, Xin, Tian, Jiaxin, Ma, Xiaogang, Jiang, Yaozhi | Surface Pressure, Heat Flux, Longwave Radiation, Shortwave Radiation, Surface Temperature, Humidity, Evapotranspiration, Surface Winds, Rain, Precipitation Rate, Snow, Soil Moisture/Water Content, Soil Temperature, Land Surface Temperature, Snow Water Equivalent, Runoff, Surface Soil Moisture | |
| An evaluation of SMAP soil moisture product using in situ data and Google Earth Engine: A case study from Greece | Detsikas, Spyridon E., Petsini, Triantafyllia, Petropoulos, George P. | Surface Soil Moisture | |
| An Improvement to the Three-Cornered Hat Method: A Case Study in Applying to Soil Moisture Datasets | Chai, Linna, Yang, Shiqi, Zhao, Shaojie | Surface Soil Moisture | |
| Spatial-Temporal Three-Corned Hat for Soil Moisture Uncertainty Evaluation Over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau | Zhang, Ling, Wang, Yongxu, Xue, Zhaohui | Surface Soil Moisture | |
| Pan-tropical daily L-band microwave land surface emissivity retrieval from GNSS-R observations | Zhu, Yifan, Guo, Fei, Zhang, Xiaohong, Yang, Wentao | Radar Cross-Section, Radar Reflectivity, SIGMA NAUGHT, Flight Data Logs, Surface Soil Moisture, Brightness Temperature | |
| Evaluating the effects of precipitation and evapotranspiration on soil moisture variability within CMIP5 using SMAP and ERA5 data | Xi, Xuan, Zhuang, Qianlai, Kim, Seungbum, Gentine, Pierre | Surface Soil Moisture | |
| Simulation of SMAP and AMSR2 observations and estimation of multi-frequency vegetation optical depth using a discrete scattering model in the Tibetan grassland | Bai, Xiaojing, Zheng, Donghai, Li, Xin, Wigneron, Jean-Pierre, van der Velde, Rogier, Zhang, Pei, Su, Zhongbo | Surface Soil Moisture | |
| A web-based system for satellite-based high-resolution global soil moisture maps | Khazaei, Morteza, Hamzeh, Saeid, Samani, Najmeh Neysani, Muhuri, Arnab, Goita, Kalifa, Weng, Qihao | Reflectance, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Surface Soil Moisture | |
| Assimilation of GRACE FollowOn InterSatellite Laser Ranging Measurements Into Land Surface Models | Khaki, Mehdi, Han, ShinChan, GhobadiFar, Khosro, Yeo, InYoung, Tangdamrongsub, Natthachet | Total Surface Precipitation Rate, Gravity, Surface Soil Moisture | |
| Land surface influence on convective available potential energy (CAPE) change during interstorms | Zhang, Lily N., Short Gianotti, Daniel J., Entekhabi, Dara | Carbon Monoxide, Geopotential Height, Tropopause, Methane, Atmospheric Ozone, Surface Pressure, Outgoing Longwave Radiation, Air Temperature, Upper Air Temperature, Humidity, Total Precipitable Water, Water Vapor, Water Vapor Profiles, Cloud Liquid Water/Ice, Cloud Height, Cloud Top Pressure, Cloud Top Temperature, Cloud Vertical Distribution, Emissivity, Skin Temperature, Sea Surface Temperature, Surface Soil Moisture | |
| Potential of remote sensing surface temperature-and evapotranspiration-based land-atmosphere coupling metrics for land surface model calibration | Zhou, Jianhong, Yang, Kun, Crow, Wade T., Dong, Jianzhi, Zhao, Long, Feng, Huihui, Zou, Mijun, Lu, Hui, Tang, Ronglin, Jiang, Yaozhi | Surface Pressure, Heat Flux, Longwave Radiation, Shortwave Radiation, Surface Temperature, Humidity, Evapotranspiration, Surface Winds, Rain, Precipitation Rate, Snow, Soil Moisture/Water Content, Soil Temperature, Land Surface Temperature, Snow Water Equivalent, Runoff, Emissivity, Surface Soil Moisture | |
| Evaluating the variability of surface soil moisture simulated within CMIP5 using SMAP data | Xi, Xuan, Gentine, Pierre, Zhuang, Qianlai, Kim, Seungbum | Surface Soil Moisture | |
| Validation of NASA SMAP Satellite Soil Moisture Products over the Desert | AlJassar, Hala, Temimi, Marouane, Abdelkader, Mohamed, Petrov, Peter, Kokkalis, Panagiotis, AlSarraf, Hussain, Roshni, Nair, Hendi, Hamad Al | Brightness Temperature, SIGMA NAUGHT, Soil Moisture/Water Content, Surface Soil Moisture | |
| The first assessment of coarse-pixel soil moisture products within the multi-scale validation framework over Qinghai-Tibet Plateau | Wang, Jingping, Wu, Xiaodan, Tang, Rongqi, Ma, Dujuan, Zeng, Qicheng, Xiao, Qing, Wen, Jianguang | Surface Soil Moisture | |
| Reconstruct SMAP brightness temperature scanning gaps over Qinghai-Tibet | Tong, Cheng, Wang, Hongquan, Zhu, Luyao, Deng, Xiaodong, Wang, Ke | Surface Soil Moisture | |
| Evaluation of CYGNSS Observations for Snow Properties, a Case Study in Tibetan Plateau, China | Ma, Wenxiao, Huang, Lingyong, Wu, Xuerui, Jin, Shuanggen, Bai, Weihua, Li, Xuanran | Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Radar Cross-Section, Radar Reflectivity, Surface Soil Moisture | |
| A deep neural network based SMAP soil moisture product | Gao, Lun, Gao, Qiang, Zhang, Hankui, Li, Xiaojun, Chaubell, Mario Julian, Ebtehaj, Ardeshir, Shen, Lian, Wigneron, Jean-Pierre | Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Reflectance, Total Surface Water, Precipitation, Precipitation Amount, Precipitation Rate, Snow, Rain, Surface Soil Moisture | |
| A Deep-Learning Approach to Soil Moisture Estimation with GNSS-R | Roberts, Thomas Maximillian, Colwell, Ian, Chew, Clara, Lowe, Stephen, Shah, Rashmi | Digital Elevation/Terrain Model (DEM), Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Soil Classification, Soil Texture, Surface Roughness, SENSOR COUNTS, Surface Soil Moisture | |
| A multiscale deep learning model for soil moisture integrating satellite and insitu data | Liu, Jiangtao, Rahmani, Farshid, Lawson, Kathryn, Shen, Chaopeng | Soil Moisture/Water Content, Surface Pressure, Longwave Radiation, Shortwave Radiation, Surface Temperature, Evaporation, Humidity, Convection, Surface Winds, Rain, Land Surface Temperature, Surface Soil Moisture | |
| A 1 km daily surface soil moisture dataset of enhanced coverage under all-weather conditions over China in 20032019 | Song, Peilin, Zhang, Yongqiang, Guo, Jianping, Shi, Jiancheng, Zhao, Tianjie, Tong, Bing | Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Brightness Temperature, SIGMA NAUGHT, Surface Soil Moisture | |
| Assessment and Error Analysis of Satellite Soil Moisture Products Over the Third Pole | Zeng, Jiangyuan, Shi, Pengfei, Chen, Kun-Shan, Ma, Hongliang, Bi, Haiyun, Cui, Chenyang | Surface Soil Moisture |