Citation:

PANGAEA.982398

Name: A global soil moisture product at 1 km resolution based on Sentinel-1 (2023-2024)
Published: 2025-05-16
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Keywords: 1km spatial resolution; global; SAR; Sentinel-1; Soil Moisture; water content

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Published: 2025-05-16 • DOI registered: 2025-06-14

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Abstract:

Although soil moisture represents only a small fraction of the Earth's total water content, it plays a pivotal role in the land surface water and energy cycle by regulating key processes such as evaporation, infiltration, and vegetation growth. Remote sensing has become an essential tool for acquiring global-scale soil moisture data. In this study, a dual-polarization algorithm (DPA) is proposed, utilizing VV and VH polarization observations from the Sentinel-1 C-band synthetic aperture radar to produce a global soil moisture dataset at a spatial resolution of 1 km. Due to the observation configuration of Sentinel-1, the dataset exhibits higher temporal resolution in Europe and high-latitude regions than in other continents and lower-latitude areas. The dataset is provided in raster format, with daily ascending and descending observations. To ensure data quality, regions unsuitable for soil moisture retrieval—such as open water, permanent wetlands, frozen ground, snow- and ice-covered surfaces, and urban or built-up areas-have been excluded. User feedback and collaborative efforts to enhance the dataset are welcome.

Keyword(s):

1km spatial resolution; global; SAR; Sentinel-1; Soil Moisture; water content

Related to:

Fan, Dong; Zhao, Tianjie; Jiang, Xiaoguang; García-García, Almudena; Schmidt, Toni; Samaniego, Luis; Attinger, Sabine; Wu, Hua; Jiang, Yazhen; Shi, Jiancheng; Fan, Lei; Tang, Bo-Hui; Wagner, Wolfgang; Dorigo, Wouter; Gruber, Alexander; Mattia, Francesco; Balenzano, Anna; Brocca, Luca; Jagdhuber, Thomas; Wigneron, Jean-Pierre; Montzka, Carsten; Peng, Jian (2025): A Sentinel-1 SAR-based global 1-km resolution soil moisture data product: Algorithm and preliminary assessment. Remote Sensing of Environment, 318, 114579, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2024.114579

Original version:

Fan, Dong; Zhao, Tianjie; Jiang, Xiaoguang; García-García, Almudena; Schmidt, Toni; Samaniego, Luis; Attinger, Sabine; Wu, Hua; Jiang, Yazhen; Shi, Jiancheng; Fan, Lei; Tang, Bohui; Wagner, Wolfgang; Dorigo, Wouter; Gruber, Alexander; Mattia, Francesco; Balenzano, Anna; Brocca, Luca; Jagdhuber, Thomas; Wigneron, Jean-Pierre; Montzka, Carsten; Peng, Jian (2025): A global soil moisture product at 1 km resolution based on Sentinel-1 (2016-2022) [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.968754

Project(s):

Model-Data fusion for understanding Environmental Variability (MoDEV)

Monitoring and Modelling Climate Change in Water, Energy and Carbon Cycles in the Pan-Third Pole Environment (CLIMATE-Pan-TPE)

Funding:

China Scholarship Council (CSC), grant/award no. 202004910767

European Space Agency (ESA), grant/award no. 4000141141/23/I-EF : Hyper-resolution Earth Observations And Land-surface Modeling For A Better Understanding Of The Water Cycle - 4DHydro

National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), grant/award no. 42090014

National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), grant/award no. 42401464

Yunnan Provincial Department of Science and Technology, grant/award no. 202401CF07016: Yunnan Fundamental Research Projects

Comment:

This is an updated version of the dataset, with valid data now extended through the end of 2024.

Original data citation:

Fan, Dong; Zhao, Tianjie; Jiang, Xiaoguang; García-García, Almudena; Schmidt, Toni; Samaniego, Luis; Attinger, Sabine; Wu, Hua; Jiang, Yazhen; Shi, Jiancheng; Fan, Lei; Tang, Bohui; Wagner, Wolfgang; Dorigo, Wouter; Gruber, Alexander; Mattia, Francesco; Balenzano, Anna; Brocca, Luca; Jagdhuber, Thomas; Wigneron, Jean-Pierre; Montzka, Carsten; Peng, Jian (2025): A global soil moisture product at 1 km resolution based on Sentinel-1 (2016–2022) [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.968754.

* File descriptions:

(1) File format: TIFF

(2) Naming rule: SM_Ascending/Descending_YYYYMMDD.tif (eg: SM_D_20160906.tif)

(3) Spatial resolution: 1km (about 0.0089831528 degree)

(4) Columns and rows: 40074 and 20036

(5) Coordinate system: D_WGS_1984 (EPSG:4326)

(6) Scope: Top 89.9887335867, Left -179.990941903, Right 179.990941903, Bottom -89.9887335867

(7) Pixel_Type: signed integer (16Bit)

(8) Scale: 1000

(9) Valid range: 0.02 to 0.6 m³/m³

(10) Backgroud value:

32767: Permanent Wetlands, Urban and Built-up Lands, Permanent Snow and Ice, Water Bodies

32766: Surface temperature < 275.15K

32765: Snow cover > 10%

Parameter(s):

#	Name	Short Name	Unit
1	Binary Object	Binary
2	Binary Object (File Size)	Binary (Size)	Bytes
3	Binary Object (Media Type)	Binary (Type)
4	Binary Object (MD5 Hash)	Binary (Hash)

License:

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0)

Status:

Curation Level: Basic curation (CurationLevelB)

Size:

4 data points

Data

Download dataset as tab-delimited text — use the following character encoding:

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