AMSR Data Catalog: Land #8211; AMSR web at JAXA Earth Observation Research Center (EORC)

Snow Depth
(Standard Product, Research Product)

The Snow depth (SND) product stores depth of snow cover over land surface. Coverage of the product is over land only, and unit is [cm]. We do not provide snow cover over the sea ice surface. Snow depth parameter is closely related to climate variation, and this product enables us to figure out changes in distribution of global snow cover.

Product Overview

The new algorithm being developed for AMSR3 is applied to AMSR2 data and released as AMSR2 research products. The research products are designed to improve the accuracy of snow depth estimation and snow coverage detection.

Product Name		Snow Depth DOI
Product Type		Standard Product		Research Product
Processing Level		L2 (Swath data ^*2) and L3 (Grid data: EQR, Polar stereo NH)		L2 (Swath data ^*2) and L3 (Grid data: EQR, Polar stereo NH)
Product ID		SND		SND
Spec. ^*1	Satellite	AMSR3	AMSR2
	Area	Global over land	Global over land	Global over land
	Spatial Resolution	approx. 30 km	approx. 30 km	approx. 30 km
	Accuracy Requirement	20 cm ^*3	20 cm ^*3	20 cm ^*3
	Range	0 〜100 cm	0 〜100 cm	0 〜100 cm
Latest Version		AMSR3: ver. 0.0 2025-??-?? release AMSR2: ver. 2.1 2015-03-26 release AMSR-E: ver. 8 2019-07-05 release		AMSR2: ver. 1.0 2022-09-20 release AMSR-E: ver. 1.0 2022-09-20 release
Product Period		AMSR3: ??? 2025 〜 AMSR2: July 2012 〜 AMSR-E: July 2002 〜 October 2011		AMSR2: July 2012 〜 AMSR-E: July 2002 〜 October 2011
Data Download		Globe Portal System (G-Portal)		AMSR Research Product Distribution Service
Data Format		NetCDF AMSR3 Higher Level Format ???KB HDF5 AMSR2 Higher Level Format 2.7MB AMSR-E Level2 Format description 757KB AMSR-E Level3 Format description 1.03MB		HDF5 AMSR2 Higher Level Format 2.7MB
Stored Data		(1) Snow Depth [cm] (2) Snow Water Equivalent [cm]		(1) Snow Depth [cm] (2) Snow Water Equivalent [cm]
Data Quality Flag		AMSR3 L2 SND Quality Flag ???KB AMSR2 L2 SND Quality Flag 263KB		L2 SND Quality Flag (SMSA ver. 3.0) 85KB
Algorithm Version		AMSR3 v0.0 (Algorithm Description, ??MB PDF page ? ) AMSR2 v2.0 3.9MB PDF page 86		SMSA v3.01 (R Kelly et al., 2019)
Validation Result		GOSAT-GW･AMSR3 Standard Product ??MB PDF page ? AMSR2 Product Update 12MB PDF page 43		Algorithm overview and validation result (SMSA 3.0) 454KB

The specifications are defined in the AMSR3 Mission Requirement and AMSR2 Mission Requirement. The required accuracy is the standard accuracy of standard product defined in the mission requirement.
Swath data is a format in which data for each footprint is stored in a two-dimensional array (observation points in scanning direction x number of scanning lines) in order of observation time.
Except ice sheets and dense forest areas. Accuracy is expressed in snow depth and defined as mean absolute error of instantaneous observations.

Reference

Richard Kelly, Qinghuan Li, Nastaran Saberi: The AMSR2 Satellite-Based Microwave Snow Algorithm (SMSA): A New Algorithm for Estimating Global Snow Accumulation, IGARSS 2019 - 2019 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2019, doi: 10.1109/IGARSS.2019.8898525

Revision History

March 25, 2024

Distribution of AMSR-E/AMSR2 snow depth research product has been resumed, with data processing issues fixed.
AMSR2 Research Product SND ver. 1.0 with algorithm SMSA v3.01
AMSR-E Research Product SND ver. 1.0 with algorithm SMSA v3.01

March 14, 2023

Distribution of AMSR-E/AMSR2 snow depth research products has been temporarily suspended due to data processing problems.

September 20, 2022

AMSR2 Research Product SND ver. 1.0 with algorithm SMSA v3.0
AMSR-E Research Product SND ver. 1.0 with algorithm SMSA v3.0

Comparison of research and standard products

454KB

July 5, 2019

AMSR-E Standard Product SND ver. 8 release (HDF5 AMSR2 Higher Level Format)

Reprocessing by applying the AMSR2 algorithm

Extension of swath width from 196 points to 243 points

Compliant with AMSR2 HDF5 format

Back Number

▸

March 26, 2015

AMSR2 Standard Product SND ver. 2.0 / 2.1

AMSR2 L2 Product

12MB PDF page 43

July 9, 2013

AMSR2 Standard Product SND ver. 1.0

AMSR2 L2 Product

3.7MB PDF page 36

September 29, 2011

AMSR-E Standard Product SND ver. 7 release

March 15, 2006

AMSR-E Standard Product SND ver. 4 release

March 1, 2005

AMSR-E Standard Product SND ver. 3 release

December 21, 2004

AMSR-E Standard Product 89GHz, Dealing with missing data in the 89GHz A-horn

March 12, 2004

AMSR-E Standard Product SND ver. 2 release

Data Catalog
Land
Soil Moisture Content

Soil Moisture Content
(Standard Product, Research Product)

The Soil Moisture content (SMC) product represents the wetness of the soil near the ground surface. Coverage of the product is over land only, and unit is [Volumetric water content %]. Soil moisture near the coastline, around large lakes and marshes, and in areas with large areas of dense forest cannot be estimated. Because microwave radiometers can acquire data at a high frequency and on a regular basis, this product is being used for monitoring large cultivated areas on continents.

Product Overview

Two types of products are available, the research product and the standard product, depending on the difference in vegetation cover used as ancillary data. The soil moisture algorithm uses MODIS vegetation cover data to account for vegetation effects, but the research product uses actual MODIS data while the standard product uses normal year values. Therefore, the research product is suitable for use in areas with large inter-annual variations in vegetation cover, such as cropland. However, there is a delay of about one month in the release of the research product compared to the standard product.

Product Name		Soil Moisture Content DOI
Product Type		Standard Product		Research Product
Processing Level		L2 (Swath data ^*2) and L3 (Grid data: EQR)		L2 (Swath data ^*2) and L3 (Grid data: EQR)
Product ID		SMC		SMC
Spec. ^*1	Satellite	AMSR3	AMSR2
	Area	Global over land	Global over land	Global over land
	Spatial Resolution	approx. 50 km	approx. 50 km	approx. 50 km
	Accuracy Requirement	± 10 %	5 % ^*3	5 % ^*3
	Range	0 〜40 %	0 〜40 % (Volumetric water content in %)	0 〜40 % (Volumetric water content in %)
Latest Version		AMSR3: ver. 0.0 2025-??-?? release AMSR2: ver. 2.1 2015-03-26 release AMSR-E: ver. 8 2019-07-05 release		AMSR2: ver. 1.0 2022-09-20 release AMSR-E: ver. 1.0 2020-09-20 release
Product Period		AMSR3: ??? 2025 〜 AMSR2: July 2012 〜 AMSR-E: July 2002 〜 October 2011		AMSR2: July 2012 〜 AMSR-E: July 2002 〜 October 2011
Data Download		Globe Portal System (G-Portal)		AMSR Research Product Distribution Service
Data Format		NetCDF AMSR3 Higher Level Format ???KB HDF5 AMSR2 Higher Level Format 2.7MB AMSR-E Level2 Format description 757KB AMSR-E Level3 Format description 1.03MB		HDF5 AMSR2 Higher Level Format 2.7MB
Stored Data		Soil Moisture Content [Volumetric water content in %]		Soil Moisture Content [Volumetric water content in %]
Data Quality Flag		AMSR3 L2 SMC Quality Flag ???KB AMSR2 L2 SMC Quality Flag 239KB		L2 SMC Quality Flag 239KB
Algorithm Version		AMSR3 v0.0 (Algorithm Description, ??MB PDF page ? ) AMSR2 v5.34 (H.Fujii et al., 2009)		v5.34 (H.Fujii et al., 2009)
Validation Result		GOSAT-GW･AMSR3 Standard Product ??MB PDF page ? AMSR2 Products Update 1.5MB PDF page13		Algorithm overview and validation result 428KB

The specifications are defined in the AMSR3 Mission Requirement and AMSR2 Mission Requirement. The required accuracy is the standard accuracy of standard product defined in the mission requirement.
Swath data is a format in which data for each footprint is stored in a two-dimensional array (observation points in scanning direction x number of scanning lines) in order of observation time.
Volumetric water content over global land areas including arid and cold regions, except areas covered by vegetation with 2kg/m² water equivalent. Accuracy is defined as mean absolute error of instantaneous observations.

Reference

H. Fujii, T. Koike, K. Imaoka: Improvement of the AMSR-E Algorithm for Soil Moisture Estimation by Introducing a Fractional Vegetation Coverage Dataset Derived from MODIS Data, J. of The Remote Sensing Society of Japan, 2009 Volume 29 Issue 1 Pages 282-292 2009, doi: rssj.29.282

Revision History

September 20, 2022

AMSR2 Research Product SMC ver. 1.0
AMSR-E Research Product SMC ver. 1.0

Comparison of research and standard products

428KB

July 5, 2019

AMSR-E Standard Product SMC ver. 8 release (HDF5 AMSR2 Higher Level Format)

Reprocessing by applying the AMSR2 algorithm

Extension of swath width from 196 points to 243 points

Compliant with AMSR2 HDF5 format

March 1, 2017

AMSR2 Standard Product SMC ver. 3.0

AMSR2 Products Update

1.5MB PDF page 13

Back Number

▸

March 26, 2015

AMSR2 Standard Product SMC ver. 2.0/2.1

AMSR2 L2 Product

12MB PDF page 37

July 9, 2013

AMSR2 Standard Product SMC ver. 1.0

AMSR2 L2 Product

3.7MB PDF page 27

September 29, 2011

AMSR-E Standard Product SMC ver. 7 release

March 25, 2008

AMSR-E Standard Product SMC ver. 6 release

March 15, 2006

AMSR-E Standard Product SMC ver. 4 release

March 1, 2005

AMSR-E Standard Product SMC ver. 3 release

March 12, 2004

AMSR-E Standard Product SMC ver. 2 release

Data Catalog
Land
Land Surface Temperature

Land Surface Temperature
(Research Product)

The land surface temperature (LST) product represents the temperature of the land surface. The unit is "Kelvin K". In bare land, it is the temperature of the soil surface, and in areas with extensive vegetation, it is the temperature above the vegetation. However, the accuracy of the estimation depends on the presence or absence of vegetation. Also, in rainfall areas, the accuracy is lower than in sunny areas due to microwave attenuation (for accuracy loss due to rainfall, add rainfall information to the quality flag). AMSR2 surface temperature products cover the entire globe, day and night, in all weather conditions.

Product Overview

Product Name		Land Surface Temperature
Product Type		Research Product
Processing Level		L2 (Swath data ^*2) and L3 (Grid data: EQR)
Product ID		LST
Spec. ^*1	Satellite	AMSR3	AMSR2
	Area	Global over land	Global over land
	Spatial Resolution	approx. 15 km	approx. 15 km
	Accuracy Requirement	Forest: ±3 ℃ Low vegetation: ±4 ℃ ^*3	Forest: ±3 ℃ Low vegetation: ±4 ℃ ^*3
	Range	0 〜 50 ℃	0 〜 50 ℃
Latest Version		AMSR3: ver. 0.0 2025-??-?? release AMSR2: ver. 1.0 2018-02-05 release AMSR-E: ver. 1.0 2022-09-20 release ^*4
Product Period		AMSR3: ??? 2025 〜 AMSR2: July 2012 〜 AMSR-E: July 2002 〜 October 2011
Data Download		AMSR Research Product Distribution Service
Data Format		NetCDF AMSR3 Higher Level Format ???KB HDF5 AMSR2 Higher Level Format 2.7MB
Stored Data		Land Surface Temperature [℃]
Data Quality Flag		L2 LST Quality Flag 241KB
Algorithm Version		v1.0 (T. R. H. Holmes et al., 2009) ^*5
Validation Result		AMSR2 Research Product (Land Surface Temperature) Validation Result 455KB

The specifications are defined in the AMSR3 Mission Requirement and AMSR2 Mission Requirement. The required accuracy is the goal accuracy of research product defined in the mission requirement.
Swath data is a format in which data for each footprint is stored in a two-dimensional array (observation points in scanning direction x number of scanning lines) in order of observation time.
Temperature at a canopy top is defined as land surface temperature. Excludes cases where the pixel contains more than a certain percentage of water, where the ground surface is frozen, or where there is snow cover.
After converting the AMSR-E luminance temperature to AMSR2 equivalent luminance temperature, it is processed using the AMSR2 LST algorithm.
LST products are processed using the conversion formula LST = 1.16 TB36v - 32.11 [K] tuned for AMSR2

Reference

T. R. H. Holmes, R. A. M. De Jeu, M. Owe, A. J. Dolman: Land surface temperature from Ka band (37 GHz) passive microwave observations, 2009, doi: 10.1029/2008JD010257

Revision History

September 20, 2022

AMSR-E Research Product LST ver. 1.0

February 5, 2018

AMSR2 Research Product LST ver. 1.0

Land Surface Temperature

455KB

Data Catalog
Land
Land Data Assimilation

Soil Moisture Content (SMC) and Vegetation Water Content (VWC) based on the Land Data Assimilation Methodology
(Research Product)

Soil moisture content at five depths and the vegetation water content based on the land data assimilation methodology. This product is extracted from the land reanalysis data (ECHLA: ECoHydrological Land reAnalysis) using the land data assimilation system (CLVDAS: Coupled Land and Vegetation Data Assimilation System) developed by Associate Professor Yohei Sawada of the University of Tokyo.

Product Overview

Product Name		Soil Moisture Content (SMC) and Vegetation Water Content (VWC) based on the Land Data Assimilation Methodology DOI
Product Type		Research Product
Processing Level		L3 (0.25 degree Grid points data：EQR)
Product ID		LDA
Spec. ^1 ^2	Satellite	AMSR3	AMSR2
	Area	???	Global over land (snow free area)
	Spatial Resolution	???	0.25×0.25degree(gird node registration, 1441x721) *Note that this is different from the AMSR2 standard L3 grid (pixel node registration, 1440x720).
	Accuracy Requirement	???	Release Criteria: SMC ±8 %（Mean Absolute Error MAE） VWC ±1 kg/m² （Root Mean Squared Error RMSE）
	Range	???	SMC : 0 〜 100 %, VWC : 0 〜 2 kg/m²
Latest Version		AMSR3: ver. 0.0 2025-??-?? release AMSR2: ver. 1.0 2024-03-25 release
Product Period		AMSR3: ??? 2025 〜 AMSR2 : Jul 3rd 2012 ～ Dec 31st 2021 AMSR-E : Jun 1st 2002 ～ Oct 4th 2011
Data Download		AMSR Research Product Distribution Service
Data Format		NetCDF AMSR3 Higher Level Format ???KB AMSR2 netCDF4/HDF5 compatible Product Format Specification 639MB
Stored Data		(1) Soil Moisture Content [Volumetric Water Content in %] ( Layer-1: depth 0 〜 5cm ) (2) Soil Moisture Content [Volumetric Water Content in %] ( Layer-2: depth 5 〜 15cm ) (3) Soil Moisture Content [Volumetric Water Content in %] ( Layer-3: depth 15 〜 45cm ) (4) Soil Moisture Content [Volumetric Water Content in %] ( Layer-4: depth 45 〜 105cm ) (5) Soil Moisture Content [Volumetric Water Content in %] ( Layer-5: depth 105 〜 195cm ) (6) Vegetation Water Content [kg/m²] (7) Leaf Area Index (LAI) [-] (8) Soil Moisture Content at 20 depths (10 cm intervals from depth 0～5 cm to 105～195 cm) [Volumetric Water Content in %]
Data Quality Flag		See Product Format Specification p15 “4.3 Quality flag dataset”
Algorithm Version		v20220923 (Sawada et al. 2025)
Validation Result		Validation Result 922KB

The specifications are defined in the AMSR3 Mission Requirement and AMSR2 Mission Requirement. The required accuracy is the goal accuracy of research product defined in the mission requirement.
Soil Moisture is profile.

Reference

Y. Sawada et al.: “Ecohydrological Land Reanalysis: Vegetation Water Content and Soil Moisture Data by Land Data Assimilation,” Geoscience Data Journal, vol. 12, no. 4, p. e70025, Oct. 2025, doi: 10.1002/gdj3.70025

Y. Sawada: Machine Learning Accelerates Parameter Optimization and Uncertainty Assessment of a Land Surface Model, 2020, doi: 10.1029/2020JD032688

Y. Sawada et al.: Monitoring and predicting agricultural droughts for a water-limited sub-continental region by integrating a land surface model and microwave remote sensing, 2019, doi: 10.1109/TGRS.2019.2927342

Y. Sawada et al.: Fusing Microwave and Optical Satellite Observations to Simultaneously Retrieve Surface Soil Moisture, Vegetation Water Content, and Surface Soil Roughness, 2017, doi: 10.1109/TGRS.2017.2722468

Y. Sawada et al.: A land data assimilation system for simultaneous simulation of soil moisture and vegetation dynamics, 2015, doi: 10.1002/2014JD022895

Y. Sawada et al.: Simultaneous estimation of both hydrological and ecological parameters in an ecohydrological model by assimilating microwave signal, 2014, doi: 10.1002/2014JD021536

Revision History

Data Catalog
Land
Vegetation Water Content

Vegetation Water Content
(Research Product, Under Development)

Soil moisture content at five depths and the vegetation water content based on the land data assimilation methodology. We are currently preparing to publish a document.

Product Overview

Product Name		Vegetation Water Content
Product Type		Research Product
Processing Level		L3 (Grid data: EQR)
Product ID		VWC
Spec. ^*1	Satellite	AMSR3	AMSR2
	Area	Global over land (snow free area)	Global over land (snow free area)
	Spatial Resolution	約 10 km	約 10 km
	Accuracy Requirement	Release Criteria ±1 kg/m²	Release Criteria ±1 kg/m²
	Range	0 〜4 kg/m²	0 〜4 kg/m²
Latest Version
Product Period
Data Download
Data Format
Stored Data		Vegetation Water Content kg/m²
Data Quality Flag
Algorithm Version
Validation Result

The specifications are defined in the AMSR3 Mission Requirement and AMSR2 Mission Requirement. The required accuracy is the goal accuracy of research product defined in the mission requirement.
Swath data is a format in which data for each footprint is stored in a two-dimensional array (observation points in scanning direction x number of scanning lines) in order of observation time.

Reference

E. Santi et al.: Vegetation Water Content Retrieval by Means of Multifrequency Microwave Acquisitions From AMSR2, 2017, doi: 10.1109/JSTARS.2017.2703629

Revision History

Snow Depth (Standard Product, Research Product)

Product Overview

Reference

Revision History

Soil Moisture Content (Standard Product, Research Product)

Product Overview

Reference

Revision History

Land Surface Temperature (Research Product)

Product Overview

Reference

Revision History

Soil Moisture Content (SMC) and Vegetation Water Content (VWC) based on the Land Data Assimilation Methodology (Research Product)

Product Overview

Reference

Revision History

Vegetation Water Content (Research Product, Under Development)

Product Overview

Reference

Revision History

Snow Depth
(Standard Product, Research Product)

Soil Moisture Content
(Standard Product, Research Product)

Land Surface Temperature
(Research Product)

Soil Moisture Content (SMC) and Vegetation Water Content (VWC) based on the Land Data Assimilation Methodology
(Research Product)

Vegetation Water Content
(Research Product, Under Development)