Historical Data set of Global Soil Moisture and Land Surface Temperature

A historical data set of continuous satellite derived global surface moisture and land surface temperature is being developed jointly by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The data set consist of surface moisture and temperature retrievals from observations of both historical and currently active satellite microwave sensors, including Nimbus-7 SMMR, DMSP SSM/I, TRMM-TMI, and AQUA AMSR-E. The data sets span the period from November 1978 through the end of 2006. Both soil moisture and land surface temperature are made with the Land Surface Retrieval Model, which was developed jointly by researchers from the above institutions. Specifications and capabilities of our soil moisture and temperature product are discussed. As an example we demonstrate the role and value of this dataset for catchment hydrology by showing the improvement of the forecasting and early warning of floods on the Rhine river. It is expected that the data will be made available for download by the general science community within about six months.