Articles | Volume 29, issue 16
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-3865-2025
© Author(s) 2025. 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-29-3865-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
20 Aug 2025
Research article |
| 20 Aug 2025
| 20 Aug 2025
Soil moisture product consistency for operational drought monitoring in Europe
Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection, National Research Council, Perugia, 06126, Italy
Davide Bavera
Arcadia SIT, Milan, 27029, Italy
Guido Fioravanti
Joint Research Center, Ispra, 21027, Italy
Sebastian Hahn
Technische Universität Wien, Department of Geodesy and Geoinformation, Vienna, 1040, Austria
Pietro Stradiotti
Technische Universität Wien, Department of Geodesy and Geoinformation, Vienna, 1040, Austria
Paolo Filippucci
Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection, National Research Council, Perugia, 06126, Italy
Stefania Camici
Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection, National Research Council, Perugia, 06126, Italy
Luca Ciabatta
Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection, National Research Council, Perugia, 06126, Italy
Hamidreza Mosaffa
University of Reading, Department of Geography and Environmental Science, Reading, RG6 6UR, United Kingdom
Silvia Puca
Italian Civil Protection, Rome, 00193, Italy
Nicoletta Roberto
Italian Civil Protection, Rome, 00193, Italy
Luca Brocca
Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection, National Research Council, Perugia, 06126, Italy
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Esmaeel Adrah, Luca Brocca, Emine Senkardesler, and He Yin
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-603, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-603, 2026
Preprint under review for ESSD
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The eastern Mediterranean is a hotspot for drought, extreme water scarcity, and geopolitical tension, yet long-term data on irrigation is missing. To address this, we used twenty-six years of satellite imagery to track soil moisture and map winter and summer irrigated lands. This freely available data reveals irrigation changes across the region over time, and support managing scarce water resources, understanding climate impacts, and improving regional food security.
Julia Pfeffer, Benoît Meyssignac, Rory Bingham, Alejandro Blazquez, Marie Bouih, Carla Braitenberg, Luca Brocca, Henryk Dobslaw, Ramiro Ferrari, Ehsan Forootan, Helena Gerdener, Muhammad Tahir Javed, Laura Jensen, Volker Klemann, Anna Kremer, Jürgen Kusche, Gilles Larnicol, Muhammad Usman Liaqat, Francesco Leopardi, Elisavet-Maria Mamagiannou, Gerardo Maurizio, Roland Pail, Isabelle Panet, Thomas Papanikolaou, Peyman Saemian, Ingo Sasgen, Maike Schumacher, Marius Schlaak, Linus Shihora, Alireza Sobouti, Nico Sneeuw, Mohammad Javad Tourian, Dimitrios Tsoulis, Georgios Vergos, Bert Wouters, Fan Yang, and Ilias Daras
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4642, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4642, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Earth Observation (EO).
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The ESA SING project demonstrates how the future satellite gravity missions NGGM and MAGIC will improve observations of continental water storage, oceans, glaciers, sea level, earthquakes, and climate change. Their more accurate, higher-resolution gravity measurements will enhance Earth system monitoring, improve climate and hazard assessments, and strengthen operational services for water management, disaster preparedness, and environmental decision-making.
Muhammad Usman Liaqat, Stefania Camici, Francesco Leopardi, Jaime Gaona, and Luca Brocca
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 30, 4969–4983, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-4969-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-4969-2026, 2026
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Tracking land water storage helps examine extreme events and manage water resources. GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) missions observe changes, but coarse resolution in space and time challenges effective management. New gravity mission called MAGIC (Mass Change And Geosciences International Constellation) can offers better accuracy. This study tested MAGIC’s potential to estimate precipitation using the SM2RAIN approach. Results show SM2RAIN works well with frequent, accurate data but deteriorates with noisy/sparse data, emphasizing the need for precise gravity missions.
Pierre Laluet, Jacopo Dari, Louise Busschaert, Zdenko Heyvaert, Gabrielle De Lannoy, Pia Langhans, Sara Modanesi, Christian Massari, Luca Brocca, Carla Saltalippi, Renato Morbidelli, Clément Albergel, and Wouter Dorigo
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 4833–4853, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-4833-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-4833-2026, 2026
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We developed a long-term dataset collection of irrigation water use based on about two decades of satellite observations, three distinct approaches, and many input datasets. The collection provides monthly estimates for major agricultural regions and helps describe how irrigation varies across locations, seasons, and years. It offers a foundation for improving how irrigation is quantified, compared across methods, and integrated into large-scale hydrological and climate studies.
Clay Harrison, Sebastian Hahn, Roland Lindorfer, Thomas Melzer, Raffaele Crapolicchio, and Wolfgang Wagner
ISPRS Ann. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XI-3-2026, 411–417, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-XI-3-2026-411-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-XI-3-2026-411-2026, 2026
Sebastian Hahn, Thomas Melzer, and Wolfgang Wagner
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 4393–4423, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-4393-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-4393-2026, 2026
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This article presents the latest version of the H SAF (Satellite Application Facility on Support to Operational Hydrology and Water Management) ASCAT (Advanced Scatterometer) SSM (surface soil moisture) datasets, unifying the NRT (near real-time) product with the historical offline data record. This release now applies the latest retrieval algorithm to both data streams, creating a consistent and unified data stream that is further complemented by a new, high-resolution 6.25 km sampling SSM product. The H SAF ASCAT SSM datasets are publicly available from https://hsaf.meteoam.it.
Francesco Avanzi, Hans Lievens, Michael Matiu, Paolo Filippucci, Oscar M. Baez Villanueva, Simone Gabellani, Fabio Delogu, Lorenzo Alfieri, Andrea Libertino, Pere Quintana-Seguì, Diego G. Miralles, Luca Brocca, Christian Massari, and Gabriëlle J. M. De Lannoy
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2851, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2851, 2026
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We developed a new system to map and monitor snow and stored water across large mountain regions using satellite data and computer simulations. Tested in four major European river basins, the system reproduced snow conditions with high accuracy and realistically captured how snow changes with elevation. Because it does not rely on ground measurements, it can help provide consistent information on snow-water resources worldwide, supporting water management and climate adaptation.
Ather Abbas, Yuan Yang, Ming Pan, Yves Tramblay, Chaopeng Shen, Haoyu Ji, Solomon H. Gebrechorkos, Florian Pappenberger, JongCheol Pyo, Dapeng Feng, George Huffman, Phu Nguyen, Christian Massari, Luca Brocca, Jackson Tan, and Hylke E. Beck
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 30, 3399–3423, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-3399-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-3399-2026, 2026
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Our study evaluated 24 precipitation datasets using a hydrological model at global scale to assess their suitability and accuracy. We found that MSWEP (Multi-Source Weighted-Ensemble Precipitation) V2.8 excels due to its ability to integrate data from multiple sources, while others, such as IMERG (Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for Global Precipitation Mission) and GDAS (Global Data Assimilation System), demonstrated strong regional performances. This research assists in selecting the appropriate dataset for applications in water resource management, hazard assessment, agriculture, and environmental monitoring.
Peyman Afrasiabikia, Atefeh Parvaresh Rizi, and Luca Brocca
ISPRS Ann. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., X-4-W8-2025, 33–38, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-X-4-W8-2025-33-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-X-4-W8-2025-33-2026, 2026
Ehsan Modiri, Oldrich Rakovec, Pallav Kumar Shrestha, Almudena García-García, Leandro Avila, Katie Blackford, Elizabeth Cooper, Bram Droppers, Paolo Filippucci, Milan Fischer, Matěj Orság, Pietro Stradiotti, Luca Brocca, Douglas B. Clark, Wouter Dorigo, Stefan Kollet, Jian Peng, Niko Wanders, and Luis Samaniego
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Drought impacts water supply, agriculture, and ecosystems, yet hydrological models often disagree on when and where drought occurs. This study tested whether satellite observations can improve how models represent soil moisture drought in the Rhine River basin. Using several models and major drought events, we show that satellite data improve spatial realism and reveal important differences among models, helping to better understand uncertainty in drought monitoring and early warning.
Paolo Stocchi, Francesco Cavalleri, Mohsin Tariq, Michele Brunetti, Stefania Camici, Daniele Mastrangelo, Fabio Di Sante, and Silvio Davolio
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-789, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-789, 2026
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The MORE (MOLOCH Reanalysis over Italy) dataset provides high-resolution (~1.7 km) hourly weather data for Italy from 1990 to today, including precipitation, near-surface temperature, and 40 atmospheric variables. Validation shows it accurately reproduces local rainfall, temperature patterns, and extreme events, outperforming coarser datasets. MORE enables improved climate studies, flood risk assessment, and serves as a reference for climate services and advanced modeling applications.
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Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 30, 1755–1778, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-1755-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-1755-2026, 2026
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Valentina Premier, Francesca Moschini, Jesús Casado-Rodríguez, Davide Bavera, Carlo Marin, and Alberto Pistocchi
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 30, 1189–1220, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-1189-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-1189-2026, 2026
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Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 5221–5258, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-5221-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-5221-2025, 2025
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Accurate rainfall data is essential, yet measuring daily precipitation worldwide is challenging. This research presents HYdroclimatic PERformance-enhanced Precipitation (HYPER-P), a dataset combining satellite, ground, and reanalysis data to estimate precipitation at a 1 km scale from 2000 to 2022. HYPER-P improves accuracy, especially in areas with few rain gauges. This dataset supports scientists and decision-makers in understanding and managing water resources more effectively.
Wolfgang Preimesberger, Pietro Stradiotti, and Wouter Dorigo
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 4305–4329, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-4305-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-4305-2025, 2025
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We introduce the official ESA CCI Soil Moisture GAPFILLED climate data record. A univariate interpolation algorithm is applied to predict missing data points without relying on ancillary variables. The dataset includes gap-free uncertainty estimates for all predictions and was validated with independent in situ reference measurements. Our data record is recommended for applications which require global long-term gap-free satellite soil moisture data.
Martin Hirschi, Pietro Stradiotti, Bas Crezee, Wouter Dorigo, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 397–425, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-397-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-397-2025, 2025
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We investigate the potential of long-term satellite and reanalysis products for characterising soil drying by analysing their 2000–2022 soil moisture trends and their representation of agroecological drought events of this period. Soil moisture trends are globally diverse and partly contradictory between products. This also affects the products' drought-detection capacity. Based on the best-estimate products, consistent soil drying is observed over more than 40 % of the land area covered.
Ling Zhang, Yanhua Xie, Xiufang Zhu, Qimin Ma, and Luca Brocca
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 5207–5226, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-5207-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-5207-2024, 2024
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This study presented new annual maps of irrigated cropland in China from 2000 to 2020 (CIrrMap250). These maps were developed by integrating remote sensing data, irrigation statistics and surveys, and an irrigation suitability map. CIrrMap250 achieved high accuracy and outperformed currently available products. The new irrigation maps revealed a clear expansion of China’s irrigation area, with the majority (61%) occurring in the water-unsustainable regions facing severe to extreme water stress.
Jacopo Dari, Paolo Filippucci, and Luca Brocca
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 2651–2659, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2651-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2651-2024, 2024
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We have developed the first operational system (10 d latency) for estimating irrigation water use from accessible satellite and reanalysis data. As a proof of concept, the method has been implemented over an irrigated area fed by the Kakhovka Reservoir, in Ukraine, which collapsed on June 6, 2023. Estimates for the period 2015–2023 reveal that, as expected, the irrigation season of 2023 was characterized by the lowest amounts of irrigation.
Søren Julsgaard Kragh, Jacopo Dari, Sara Modanesi, Christian Massari, Luca Brocca, Rasmus Fensholt, Simon Stisen, and Julian Koch
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 441–457, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-441-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-441-2024, 2024
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This study provides a comparison of methodologies to quantify irrigation to enhance regional irrigation estimates. To evaluate the methodologies, we compared various approaches to quantify irrigation using soil moisture, evapotranspiration, or both within a novel baseline framework, together with irrigation estimates from other studies. We show that the synergy from using two equally important components in a joint approach within a baseline framework yields better irrigation estimates.
Rosa Claudia Torcasio, Alessandra Mascitelli, Eugenio Realini, Stefano Barindelli, Giulio Tagliaferro, Silvia Puca, Stefano Dietrich, and Stefano Federico
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 3319–3336, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-3319-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-3319-2023, 2023
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This work shows how local observations can improve precipitation forecasting for severe weather events. The improvement lasts for at least 6 h of forecast.
Jacopo Dari, Luca Brocca, Sara Modanesi, Christian Massari, Angelica Tarpanelli, Silvia Barbetta, Raphael Quast, Mariette Vreugdenhil, Vahid Freeman, Anaïs Barella-Ortiz, Pere Quintana-Seguí, David Bretreger, and Espen Volden
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1555–1575, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1555-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1555-2023, 2023
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Irrigation is the main source of global freshwater consumption. Despite this, a detailed knowledge of irrigation dynamics (i.e., timing, extent of irrigated areas, and amounts of water used) are generally lacking worldwide. Satellites represent a useful tool to fill this knowledge gap and monitor irrigation water from space. In this study, three regional-scale and high-resolution (1 and 6 km) products of irrigation amounts estimated by inverting the satellite soil moisture signals are presented.
Francesco Avanzi, Simone Gabellani, Fabio Delogu, Francesco Silvestro, Flavio Pignone, Giulia Bruno, Luca Pulvirenti, Giuseppe Squicciarino, Elisabetta Fiori, Lauro Rossi, Silvia Puca, Alexander Toniazzo, Pietro Giordano, Marco Falzacappa, Sara Ratto, Hervè Stevenin, Antonio Cardillo, Matteo Fioletti, Orietta Cazzuli, Edoardo Cremonese, Umberto Morra di Cella, and Luca Ferraris
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 639–660, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-639-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-639-2023, 2023
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Snow cover has profound implications for worldwide water supply and security, but knowledge of its amount and distribution across the landscape is still elusive. We present IT-SNOW, a reanalysis comprising daily maps of snow amount and distribution across Italy for 11 snow seasons from September 2010 to August 2021. The reanalysis was validated using satellite images and snow measurements and will provide highly needed data to manage snow water resources in a warming climate.
Kunlong He, Wei Zhao, Luca Brocca, and Pere Quintana-Seguí
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 169–190, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-169-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-169-2023, 2023
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In this study, we developed a soil moisture-based precipitation downscaling (SMPD) method for spatially downscaling the GPM daily precipitation product by exploiting the connection between surface soil moisture and precipitation according to the soil water balance equation. Based on this physical method, the spatial resolution of the daily precipitation product was downscaled to 1 km and the SMPD method shows good potential for the development of the high-resolution precipitation product.
Sara Modanesi, Christian Massari, Michel Bechtold, Hans Lievens, Angelica Tarpanelli, Luca Brocca, Luca Zappa, and Gabriëlle J. M. De Lannoy
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 4685–4706, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4685-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4685-2022, 2022
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Given the crucial impact of irrigation practices on the water cycle, this study aims at estimating irrigation through the development of an innovative data assimilation system able to ingest high-resolution Sentinel-1 radar observations into the Noah-MP land surface model. The developed methodology has important implications for global water resource management and the comprehension of human impacts on the water cycle and identifies main challenges and outlooks for future research.
Stefania Camici, Gabriele Giuliani, Luca Brocca, Christian Massari, Angelica Tarpanelli, Hassan Hashemi Farahani, Nico Sneeuw, Marco Restano, and Jérôme Benveniste
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 6935–6956, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-6935-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-6935-2022, 2022
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This paper presents an innovative approach, STREAM (SaTellite-based Runoff Evaluation And Mapping), to derive daily river discharge and runoff estimates from satellite observations of soil moisture, precipitation, and terrestrial total water storage anomalies. Potentially useful for multiple operational and scientific applications, the added value of the STREAM approach is the ability to increase knowledge on the natural processes, human activities, and their interactions on the land.
Lorenzo Alfieri, Francesco Avanzi, Fabio Delogu, Simone Gabellani, Giulia Bruno, Lorenzo Campo, Andrea Libertino, Christian Massari, Angelica Tarpanelli, Dominik Rains, Diego G. Miralles, Raphael Quast, Mariette Vreugdenhil, Huan Wu, and Luca Brocca
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 3921–3939, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3921-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3921-2022, 2022
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This work shows advances in high-resolution satellite data for hydrology. We performed hydrological simulations for the Po River basin using various satellite products, including precipitation, evaporation, soil moisture, and snow depth. Evaporation and snow depth improved a simulation based on high-quality ground observations. Interestingly, a model calibration relying on satellite data skillfully reproduces observed discharges, paving the way to satellite-driven hydrological applications.
Ashwini Petchiappan, Susan C. Steele-Dunne, Mariette Vreugdenhil, Sebastian Hahn, Wolfgang Wagner, and Rafael Oliveira
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 2997–3019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2997-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2997-2022, 2022
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This study investigates spatial and temporal patterns in the incidence angle dependence of backscatter from the ASCAT C-band scatterometer and relates those to precipitation, humidity, and radiation data and GRACE equivalent water thickness in ecoregions in the Amazon. The results show that the ASCAT data record offers a unique perspective on vegetation water dynamics exhibiting sensitivity to moisture availability and demand and phenological change at interannual, seasonal, and diurnal scales.
Paolo Filippucci, Luca Brocca, Raphael Quast, Luca Ciabatta, Carla Saltalippi, Wolfgang Wagner, and Angelica Tarpanelli
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 2481–2497, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2481-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2481-2022, 2022
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A high-resolution (1 km) rainfall product with 10–30 d temporal resolution was obtained starting from SM data from Sentinel-1. Good performances are achieved using observed data (gauge and radar) over the Po River Valley, Italy, as a benchmark. The comparison with a product characterized by lower spatial resolution (25 km) highlights areas where the high spatial resolution of Sentinel-1 has great benefits. Possible applications include water management, agriculture and index-based insurances.
Wouter Dorigo, Irene Himmelbauer, Daniel Aberer, Lukas Schremmer, Ivana Petrakovic, Luca Zappa, Wolfgang Preimesberger, Angelika Xaver, Frank Annor, Jonas Ardö, Dennis Baldocchi, Marco Bitelli, Günter Blöschl, Heye Bogena, Luca Brocca, Jean-Christophe Calvet, J. Julio Camarero, Giorgio Capello, Minha Choi, Michael C. Cosh, Nick van de Giesen, Istvan Hajdu, Jaakko Ikonen, Karsten H. Jensen, Kasturi Devi Kanniah, Ileen de Kat, Gottfried Kirchengast, Pankaj Kumar Rai, Jenni Kyrouac, Kristine Larson, Suxia Liu, Alexander Loew, Mahta Moghaddam, José Martínez Fernández, Cristian Mattar Bader, Renato Morbidelli, Jan P. Musial, Elise Osenga, Michael A. Palecki, Thierry Pellarin, George P. Petropoulos, Isabella Pfeil, Jarrett Powers, Alan Robock, Christoph Rüdiger, Udo Rummel, Michael Strobel, Zhongbo Su, Ryan Sullivan, Torbern Tagesson, Andrej Varlagin, Mariette Vreugdenhil, Jeffrey Walker, Jun Wen, Fred Wenger, Jean Pierre Wigneron, Mel Woods, Kun Yang, Yijian Zeng, Xiang Zhang, Marek Zreda, Stephan Dietrich, Alexander Gruber, Peter van Oevelen, Wolfgang Wagner, Klaus Scipal, Matthias Drusch, and Roberto Sabia
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 5749–5804, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5749-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5749-2021, 2021
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The International Soil Moisture Network (ISMN) is a community-based open-access data portal for soil water measurements taken at the ground and is accessible at https://ismn.earth. Over 1000 scientific publications and thousands of users have made use of the ISMN. The scope of this paper is to inform readers about the data and functionality of the ISMN and to provide a review of the scientific progress facilitated through the ISMN with the scope to shape future research and operations.
Daniele Masseroni, Stefania Camici, Alessio Cislaghi, Giorgio Vacchiano, Christian Massari, and Luca Brocca
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 5589–5601, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5589-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5589-2021, 2021
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We evaluate 63 years of changes in annual streamflow volume across Europe, using a data set of more than 3000 stations, with a special focus on the Mediterranean basin. The results show decreasing (increasing) volumes in the southern (northern) regions. These trends are strongly consistent with the changes in temperature and precipitation.
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Short summary
Soil moisture is crucial for the water cycle since it is at the front line of drought. Satellite, model and in situ data help identify soil moisture stress but are challenged by data uncertainties. This study evaluates trends and data coherence of common active/passive microwave sensors and model-based soil moisture data against in situ stations across Europe from 2007 to 2022. Data reliability is increasing, but combining data types improves soil moisture monitoring capabilities.
Soil moisture is crucial for the water cycle since it is at the front line of drought....
