Articles | Volume 28, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1999-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1999-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Evaluation of reanalysis soil moisture products using cosmic ray neutron sensor observations across the globe
Yanchen Zheng
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
School of Civil, Aerospace and Design Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
Gemma Coxon
School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
Ross Woods
School of Civil, Aerospace and Design Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
Daniel Power
School of Civil, Aerospace and Design Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
Miguel Angel Rico-Ramirez
School of Civil, Aerospace and Design Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
David McJannet
CSIRO Environment, EcoSciences Precinct, Dutton Park, Queensland, Australia
Rafael Rosolem
School of Civil, Aerospace and Design Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
Cabot Institute for the Environment, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
Jianzhu Li
State Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Engineering Simulation and Safety, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
Ping Feng
State Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Engineering Simulation and Safety, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
Viewed
Total article views: 4,076 (including HTML, PDF, and XML)
Cumulative views and downloads
(calculated since 09 Oct 2023)
| HTML | XML | Total | Supplement | BibTeX | EndNote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,724 | 1,222 | 130 | 4,076 | 326 | 127 | 160 |
- HTML: 2,724
- PDF: 1,222
- XML: 130
- Total: 4,076
- Supplement: 326
- BibTeX: 127
- EndNote: 160
Total article views: 2,903 (including HTML, PDF, and XML)
Cumulative views and downloads
(calculated since 07 May 2024)
| HTML | XML | Total | Supplement | BibTeX | EndNote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,049 | 770 | 84 | 2,903 | 65 | 95 | 132 |
- HTML: 2,049
- PDF: 770
- XML: 84
- Total: 2,903
- Supplement: 65
- BibTeX: 95
- EndNote: 132
Total article views: 1,173 (including HTML, PDF, and XML)
Cumulative views and downloads
(calculated since 09 Oct 2023)
| HTML | XML | Total | Supplement | BibTeX | EndNote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 675 | 452 | 46 | 1,173 | 261 | 32 | 28 |
- HTML: 675
- PDF: 452
- XML: 46
- Total: 1,173
- Supplement: 261
- BibTeX: 32
- EndNote: 28
Viewed (geographical distribution)
Total article views: 4,076 (including HTML, PDF, and XML)
Thereof 3,959 with geography defined
and 117 with unknown origin.
Total article views: 2,903 (including HTML, PDF, and XML)
Thereof 2,816 with geography defined
and 87 with unknown origin.
Total article views: 1,173 (including HTML, PDF, and XML)
Thereof 1,143 with geography defined
and 30 with unknown origin.
| Country | # | Views | % |
|---|
| Country | # | Views | % |
|---|
| Country | # | Views | % |
|---|
| Total: | 0 |
| HTML: | 0 |
| PDF: | 0 |
| XML: | 0 |
- 1
1
| Total: | 0 |
| HTML: | 0 |
| PDF: | 0 |
| XML: | 0 |
- 1
1
| Total: | 0 |
| HTML: | 0 |
| PDF: | 0 |
| XML: | 0 |
- 1
1
Cited
30 citations as recorded by crossref.
- Soil moisture measurements by Cosmic-Ray neutron sensing: A critical review M. Köhli https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2025.117626
- Potential of long-term satellite observations and reanalysis products for characterising soil drying: trends and drought events M. Hirschi et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-397-2025
- Evaluating Multi-Source Soil Moisture Products for Root-Zone Soil Moisture Representation in Yunnan, China R. Wang et al. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs18101669
- Coupled land–atmosphere processes exacerbate recent compound drought and heatwaves over Africa I. Raji et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2026.181452
- Enhancing sub-seasonal soil moisture forecasts through land initialization Y. Duan et al. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-025-00987-0
- From grid to ground: how well do gridded products represent soil moisture dynamics in natural ecosystems during precipitation events? D. Núñez-Ibarra et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-1813-2026
- Graph-Transformer for Spatiotemporal Soil Moisture Forecasting Using Multimodal Remote Sensing Data M. Saki et al. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2026.3669499
- Evaluating Sentinel-1/-2 and MODIS fractional snow cover products for applications in alpine cosmic ray neutron snow monitoring N. Krebs et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsase.2025.101812
- Assessment and intercomparison of 23 global satellite and model-based soil moisture products using cosmic ray neutron sensing observations over Europe P. Helili et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2025.115207
- Long-Term Response of Soil Moisture to Vegetation Changes in the Drylands of Northern China Y. Wang et al. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17062483
- Impact Pathways of Environmental Factors on the Spatiotemporal Variations in Surface Soil Moisture in Tianshan Mountains, China D. Liu et al. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16070736
- SMRFR: A global multilayer soil moisture dataset generated using Random Forest from multi-source data Y. Liu et al. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05511-w
- Comparative analysis of satellite and reanalysis data with ground‐based observations in Northern Ghana J. Katsekpor et al. https://doi.org/10.1002/met.2226
- Soil Moisture Monitoring Method and Data Products: Current Research Status and Future Development Trends R. Liu et al. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17243945
- Probabilistic approach to monitoring vegetation water stress using solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence data M. Faiz et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109559
- Spatiotemporal Analysis of Soil Moisture Variability and Precipitation Response Across Soil Texture Classes in East Kazakhstan D. Chernykh et al. https://doi.org/10.3390/land14061136
- Long-term spatiotemporal analysis of variation in soil moisture over Iran M. Darand & R. Tashan https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2026.106727
- Improved flash drought forecasting and attribution: A spatial-temporal causality-aware deep learning approach S. Tang et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.134945
- Soil moisture monitoring with cosmogenic neutrons: an asset for the development and assessment of soil moisture products in the state of Brandenburg (Germany) M. Heistermann et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-465-2026
- Characterizing 3D flash drought events and exploring flash drought propagation in the North China Plain, China S. Zhang et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2025.109556
- Improved representation of soil moisture processes through incorporation of cosmic-ray neutron count measurements in a large-scale hydrologic model E. Fatima et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5419-2024
- Enhancing soil moisture retrievals from cosmic ray neutron sensor in a peri-urban agricultural landscape M. Noč et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2026.110564
- Beyond Helium-3: Instruments for Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensing Based on Boron-10 Neutron Detectors M. Köhli & J. Weimar https://doi.org/10.3390/instruments10020031
- A seamless global daily 5 km soil moisture product from 1982 to 2021 using AVHRR satellite data and an attention-based deep learning model Y. Zhang et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-5181-2025
- On the value of mobile cosmic-ray neutron measurements for spatio-temporal soil moisture simulations E. Fatima et al. https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2025.1630051
- Comparing Temporal Dynamics of Soil Moisture from Remote Sensing, Modeling, and Field Observations Across Europe L. Jach et al. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs18030445
- Evaluation of satellite-based and reanalysis soil moisture products using ground-observations in the Qilian Mountains S. Wang et al. https://doi.org/10.1080/10095020.2025.2536758
- Prominent impacts of snow–hydrological processes on near-surface temperature variability over Western Siberia N. Ganeshi et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.133187
- Dynamic development of global contiguous flash droughts: from an event-based spatiotemporal perspective D. Wang et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.133934
- Multi-source fusion and machine learning downscaling of soil moisture in the arid and semi-arid regions of China Z. Liu et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2026.105609
30 citations as recorded by crossref.
- Soil moisture measurements by Cosmic-Ray neutron sensing: A critical review M. Köhli https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2025.117626
- Potential of long-term satellite observations and reanalysis products for characterising soil drying: trends and drought events M. Hirschi et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-397-2025
- Evaluating Multi-Source Soil Moisture Products for Root-Zone Soil Moisture Representation in Yunnan, China R. Wang et al. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs18101669
- Coupled land–atmosphere processes exacerbate recent compound drought and heatwaves over Africa I. Raji et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2026.181452
- Enhancing sub-seasonal soil moisture forecasts through land initialization Y. Duan et al. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-025-00987-0
- From grid to ground: how well do gridded products represent soil moisture dynamics in natural ecosystems during precipitation events? D. Núñez-Ibarra et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-1813-2026
- Graph-Transformer for Spatiotemporal Soil Moisture Forecasting Using Multimodal Remote Sensing Data M. Saki et al. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2026.3669499
- Evaluating Sentinel-1/-2 and MODIS fractional snow cover products for applications in alpine cosmic ray neutron snow monitoring N. Krebs et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsase.2025.101812
- Assessment and intercomparison of 23 global satellite and model-based soil moisture products using cosmic ray neutron sensing observations over Europe P. Helili et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2025.115207
- Long-Term Response of Soil Moisture to Vegetation Changes in the Drylands of Northern China Y. Wang et al. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17062483
- Impact Pathways of Environmental Factors on the Spatiotemporal Variations in Surface Soil Moisture in Tianshan Mountains, China D. Liu et al. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16070736
- SMRFR: A global multilayer soil moisture dataset generated using Random Forest from multi-source data Y. Liu et al. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05511-w
- Comparative analysis of satellite and reanalysis data with ground‐based observations in Northern Ghana J. Katsekpor et al. https://doi.org/10.1002/met.2226
- Soil Moisture Monitoring Method and Data Products: Current Research Status and Future Development Trends R. Liu et al. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17243945
- Probabilistic approach to monitoring vegetation water stress using solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence data M. Faiz et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109559
- Spatiotemporal Analysis of Soil Moisture Variability and Precipitation Response Across Soil Texture Classes in East Kazakhstan D. Chernykh et al. https://doi.org/10.3390/land14061136
- Long-term spatiotemporal analysis of variation in soil moisture over Iran M. Darand & R. Tashan https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2026.106727
- Improved flash drought forecasting and attribution: A spatial-temporal causality-aware deep learning approach S. Tang et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.134945
- Soil moisture monitoring with cosmogenic neutrons: an asset for the development and assessment of soil moisture products in the state of Brandenburg (Germany) M. Heistermann et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-465-2026
- Characterizing 3D flash drought events and exploring flash drought propagation in the North China Plain, China S. Zhang et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2025.109556
- Improved representation of soil moisture processes through incorporation of cosmic-ray neutron count measurements in a large-scale hydrologic model E. Fatima et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5419-2024
- Enhancing soil moisture retrievals from cosmic ray neutron sensor in a peri-urban agricultural landscape M. Noč et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2026.110564
- Beyond Helium-3: Instruments for Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensing Based on Boron-10 Neutron Detectors M. Köhli & J. Weimar https://doi.org/10.3390/instruments10020031
- A seamless global daily 5 km soil moisture product from 1982 to 2021 using AVHRR satellite data and an attention-based deep learning model Y. Zhang et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-5181-2025
- On the value of mobile cosmic-ray neutron measurements for spatio-temporal soil moisture simulations E. Fatima et al. https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2025.1630051
- Comparing Temporal Dynamics of Soil Moisture from Remote Sensing, Modeling, and Field Observations Across Europe L. Jach et al. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs18030445
- Evaluation of satellite-based and reanalysis soil moisture products using ground-observations in the Qilian Mountains S. Wang et al. https://doi.org/10.1080/10095020.2025.2536758
- Prominent impacts of snow–hydrological processes on near-surface temperature variability over Western Siberia N. Ganeshi et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.133187
- Dynamic development of global contiguous flash droughts: from an event-based spatiotemporal perspective D. Wang et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.133934
- Multi-source fusion and machine learning downscaling of soil moisture in the arid and semi-arid regions of China Z. Liu et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2026.105609
Saved (final revised paper)
Latest update: 01 Aug 2026
Short summary
Reanalysis soil moisture products are a vital basis for hydrological and environmental research. Previous product evaluation is limited by the scale difference (point and grid scale). This paper adopts cosmic ray neutron sensor observations, a novel technique that provides root-zone soil moisture at field scale. In this paper, global harmonized CRNS observations were used to assess products. ERA5-Land, SMAPL4, CFSv2, CRA40 and GLEAM show better performance than MERRA2, GLDAS-Noah and JRA55.
Reanalysis soil moisture products are a vital basis for hydrological and environmental research....