Global Monitoring of Soil Moisture for Water Hazards Assessment (Phase II)

Soil moisture – the water stored in soil within reach of the plants – is a crucial parameter for a large number of applications. Near-real-time soil moisture information is, amongst others, important for weather forecasting, flood and drought monitoring, and civil protection. Long-term soil moisture time series are important for improving our understanding of impacts of global warming on water resources, carbon balance, ecology and epidemiology. The overall goal of GMSM is to advance the use of soil moisture services based on METOP ASCAT and complementary satellite systems, most importantly SMOS and ENVISAT ASAR, in water hazards applications.