ASCAT Surface Soil Moisture Climate Data Record v5 12.5 km sampling - Metop

The Soil Moisture (SM) product is derived from the Advanced SCATterometer (ASCAT) backscatter observations and provided on a fixed Earth grid (12.5 km sampling) in time series format. The SM product provides an estimate of the water content of the 0-5 cm topsoil layer, expressed in degree of saturation between 0 and 100 [%]. The algorithm used to derive this parameter is based on a linear relationship of SM and scatterometer backscatter and uses change detection techniques to eliminate the contributions of vegetation, land cover and surface topography, considered invariant from year to year. Seasonal vegetation effects are modelled by exploiting the multi-angle viewing capabilities of ASCAT. The SM algorithm has been developed by Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien). The SM product represents a reprocessed data record and covers the period 2007-2018.