Soil Water Content
About Soil Water Content
Soil water content is the measure of the amount of water present in a unit volume of soil. It is typically expressed as a percentage and represents the ratio of the volume of water to the total volume of the soil. This measurement is crucial for understanding the water status of the soil, providing insights into factors like drought monitoring, soil health, and hydrological processes.
The Soil Water Content Planetary Variable provides near-daily measurements of soil water content data with spatial resolution of 100 m and 1000 m. It is unhindered by clouds and has a long and consistent data record of more than 20 years, eliminating the need for maintaining large networks of physical sensors.
Discover samples of Soil Water Content, free to all active Planet users and Sentinel Hub users with a paid subscription: Sandbox Data for Soil Water Content.
Basic facts
| Property | Info |
|---|---|
| Spatial resolution | 100 m, 1000 m |
| Sensor | SMAP, AMSR-E, AMSR-E, Sentinel 2 |
| Revisit time | 137-365 observations per year |
| Spatial coverage | Global |
| Data availability | 1000 m (2002 - present), 100 m (2017 - present) |
| Common usage/purpose | Drought-index insurance, water management, sowing date assessment, soil compaction, preventing water stress, flood risks mitigation, improving irrigation models, fire risk assessment, improving hydrological models |
Planet documentation for Soil Water Content: https://developers.planet.com/docs/planetary-variables/soil-water-content/
Planet Product Specification for Soil Water Content: https://assets.planet.com/docs/Planet_soil_water_content_product_specification.pdf
Subscribing to Soil Water Content
To subscribe to Soil Water Content, use the TPDI subscriptions endpoint or EO-Browser's Commercial Data tab with the following type and id values:
| type | id | Description |
|---|---|---|
| soil_water_content | SWC-AMSR2-C_V1.0_100 | Soil Water Content data derived from the AMSR2 instrument in the C-band frequency range, with a spatial resolution of 100 meters. The available archive period is from July 1, 2017 to present. |
| soil_water_content | SWC-AMSR2-X_V1.0_100 | Soil Water Content data derived from the AMSR2 instrument in the X-band frequency range, with a spatial resolution of 100 meters. The available archive period is from July 1, 2017 to present. |
| soil_water_content | SWC-SMAP-L_V1.0_100 | Soil Water Content data derived from the SMAP mission using L-band radiometry, with a spatial resolution of 100 meters. The available archive period is from July 1, 2017 to present. |
| soil_water_content | SWC-AMSR2-C_V2.0_100 | Soil Water Content data derived from the AMSR2 instrument in the C-band frequency range, with a spatial resolution of 100 meters. The available archive period is from July 1, 2017 to present. |
| soil_water_content | SWC-AMSR2-X_V2.0_100 | Soil Water Content data derived from the AMSR2 instrument in the X-band frequency range, with a spatial resolution of 100 meters. The available archive period is from July 1, 2017 to present. |
| soil_water_content | SWC-SMAP-L_V2.0_100 | Soil Water Content data derived from the SMAP mission using L-band radiometry, with a spatial resolution of 100 meters. The available archive period is from July 1, 2017 to present. |
| soil_water_content | SWC-AMSRE-C_V4.0_1000 | Soil Water Content data derived from the AMSR-E instrument in the C-band frequency range, with a spatial resolution of 1 kilometer. The available archive period is from June 15, 2002 to October 04, 2011. |
| soil_water_content | SWC-AMSRE-X_V4.0_1000 | Soil Water Content data derived from the AMSR-E instrument in the X-band frequency range, with a spatial resolution of 1 kilometer. The available archive period is from June 15, 2002 to October 04, 2011. |
| soil_water_content | SWC-AMSR2-C_V4.0_1000 | Soil Water Content data derived from the AMSR2 instrument in the C-band frequency range, with a spatial resolution of 1 kilometer. The available archive period is from July 25, 2012 to present. |
| soil_water_content | SWC-AMSR2-X_V4.0_1000 | Soil Water Content data derived from the AMSR2 instrument in the X-band frequency range, with a spatial resolution of 1 kilometer. The available archive period is from July 25, 2012 to present. |
| soil_water_content | SWC-SMAP-L_V4.0_1000 | Soil Water Content data derived from the SMAP mission using L-band radiometry, with a spatial resolution of 1 kilometer. The available archive period is from April 1, 2015 to present. |
| soil_water_content | SWC-AMSRE-C_V5.0_1000 | Soil Water Content data derived from the AMSR-E instrument in the C-band frequency range, with a spatial resolution of 1 kilometer. The available archive period is from June 15, 2002 to October 04, 2011. |
| soil_water_content | SWC-AMSRE-X_V5.0_1000 | Soil Water Content data derived from the AMSR-E instrument in the X-band frequency range, with a spatial resolution of 1 kilometer. The available archive period is from June 15, 2002 to October 04, 2011. |
| soil_water_content | SWC-AMSR2-C_V5.0_1000 | Soil Water Content data derived from the AMSR2 instrument in the C-band frequency range, with a spatial resolution of 1 kilometer. The available archive period is from July 25, 2012 to present. |
| soil_water_content | SWC-AMSR2-X_V5.0_1000 | Soil Water Content data derived from the AMSR2 instrument in the X-band frequency range, with a spatial resolution of 1 kilometer. The available archive period is from July 25, 2012 to present. |
| soil_water_content | SWC-SMAP-L_V5.0_1000 | Soil Water Content data derived from the SMAP mission using L-band radiometry, with a spatial resolution of 1 kilometer. The available archive period is from April 1, 2015 to present. |
Available Bands
| Band Name | Description | Physical Unit | Source Format | Typical Range | No Data Value | Scale * |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWC | Soil Water Content | m3/m3 | UINT16 | 0 - 1 | 65535 | 0.001 |
| SWC_MaskedPixels | Soil Water Content pixels masked by one or more critical flags from the QF band | m3/m3 | UINT16 | 0 - 1 | 65535 | 0.001 |
| QF | Quality flags | unitless | UINT16 | See full description here | 0 | 1 |
* The band values are scaled. To obtain the original values, the band values must be multiplied by the scale factor.
Note: All Planetary variable bands are part of BYOC collections. Therefore, their SH units are DN and the column is not present in the table.
Examples
Subscribing to and visualizing Soil Water Content is illustrated by this example.