GMAO Contributes to the SMAP Project: Version 2 of Level-4 products released

04.29.16

The NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) is pleased to announce the availability of Version 2 of the Level-4 datasets from the NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission. The new datasets include the SMAP Surface and Root Zone Soil Moisture (L4_SM) and the Net Ecosystem Carbon Exchange (L4_C) products developed and generated by GMAO in collaboration with The University of Montana and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Version 2 of the Level-4 datasets provides validated data products that rely on the merger of SMAP observations into physically-based numerical models of the land surface water, energy, and carbon cycles. The Level-4 datasets therefore propagate information from the SMAP measurements into geophysical fields of interest that are not directly observed by the SMAP instruments.

Available Version 2 L4_SM data include global, 9-km, 3-hourly estimates of surface and root zone soil moisture, surface and soil temperature, and land surface fluxes, along with algorithm diagnostics from the ensemble-based data assimilation system. Version 2 L4_C data include global, 9-km, daily estimates of net ecosystem carbon exchange, component carbon stocks and fluxes, and sub-grid information broken down by plant functional types.

Version 2 Level-4 data are generated in forward-processing beginning with data-day 21 April 2016. Data from 31 March 2015 through 21 April 2016 will soon be reprocessed to Version 2 and will be made available as they are processed. This reprocessing is expected to be completed in the coming weeks.

The Level-4 datasets are available from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).

Click here for more information on the SMAP Level-4 product.

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