This data set is part of the ESA Sea Ice Climate Change Initiative (CCI) project. The dataset provides sea ice concentration (SIC) for the Antarctic region, derived from the SSMI satellite instrument. It consists of daily gridded SIC fields based on Passive Microwave Radiometer measurements from the SSMI instrument with a 25km grid spacing, along with the total standard error (uncertainty) and quality control flags. It has been built upon the algorithms and processing software originally developed at the EUMETSAT OSI SAF for their SIC dataset. Please note, in the sea ice concentration data set - on purpose - no weather filter has been applied to eliminate weather-induced spurious ice in the open ocean along the ice edge in order to avoid discarding regions with a real sea ice cover. Users are advised to read the product user guide and the publication by Ivanova et al. [2015] (see documentation section). A second sea ice dataset has also been produced from the AMSR-E instrument, and these should be regarded as individual datasets and not combined without further investigations about the compatibility.

Snow water equivalent (SWE) indicates the amount of accumulated snow on land surfaces; in other words the amount of water contained within the snowpack. The SWE product time series covers the period from 1979 to 2018. Northern Hemisphere SWE products are available at daily temporal resolution with alpine areas masked. The product is based on data from the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) operated on National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Nimbus-7 satellite, the Special Sensor Microwave / Imager (SSM/I) and the Special Sensor Microwave Imager / Sounder (SSMI/S) carried onboard the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) 5D- and F-series satellites. The satellite bands provide spatial resolutions between 15 and 69 km. The retrieval methodology combines satellite passive microwave radiometer (PMR) measurements with ground-based synoptic weather station observations by Bayesian non-linear iterative assimilation. A background snow-depth field from re-gridded surface snow-depth observations and a passive microwave emission model are required components of the retrieval scheme. The dataset was aimed to serve the needs of users working on climate research and monitoring activities, including the detection of variability and trends, climate modelling, and aspects of hydrology and meteorology. The Finnish Meteorological Institute is responsible for the SWE product development and generation. For the period from 1979 to May 1987, the products are available every second day. From October 1987 till May 2018, the products are available daily. Products are only generated for the Northern Hemisphere winter seasons, usually from beginning of October till the middle of May. A limited number of SWE products are available for days in June and September; products are not available for the months July and August as there is usually no snow information reported on synoptic weather stations, which is required as input for the SWE retrieval. Because of known limitations in alpine terrain, a complex-terrain mask is applied based on the sub-grid variability in elevation determined from a high-resolution digital elevation model. All land ice and large lakes are also masked; retrievals are not produced for coastal regions of Greenland.

This data set is part of the ESA Sea Ice Climate Change Initiative (CCI) project. The dataset provides sea ice concentration for the Arctic region, derived from the SSMI satellite instrument. It consists of daily gridded SIC fields based on Passive Microwave Radiometer measurements from the SSMI instrument with a 25km grid spacing, along with the total standard error (uncertainty) and quality control flags. It has been built upon the algorithms and processing software originally developed at the EUMETSAT OSI SAF for their SIC dataset. Please note, in the sea ice concentration data set - on purpose - no weather filter has been applied to eliminate weather-induced spurious ice in the open ocean along the ice edge in order to avoid discarding regions with a real sea ice cover. Users are advised to read the product user guide and the publication by Ivanova et al. [2015] (see documentation section). A second sea ice dataset has also been produced from the AMSR-E instrument, and these should be regarded as individual datasets and not combined without further investigations about the compatibility.

The Soil Moisture CCI PASSIVE dataset is one of three datasets created as part of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Soil Moisture Essential Climate Variable (ECV) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) project. The product has been created by merging data from the SMMR, SSM/I, TMI, AMSR-E, WindSat, AMSR2, SMOS and SMAP satellite instruments. ACTIVE and COMBINED products have also been created. The v05.3 PASSIVE product, provided as global daily images in NetCDF-4 classic file format, presents a global coverage of surface soil moisture at a spatial resolution of 0.25 degrees. It is provided in volumetric units [m3 m-3] and covers the period (yyyy-mm-dd) 1978-11-01 to 2020-12-31. For information regarding the theoretical and algorithmic base of the product, please see the Algorithm Theoretical Baseline Document. Other additional reference documents and information relating to the dataset can also be found on the CCI Soil Moisture project website. The data set should be cited using all three of the following references: 1. Gruber, A., Scanlon, T., van der Schalie, R., Wagner, W., and Dorigo, W. (2019). Evolution of the ESA CCI Soil Moisture climate data records and their underlying merging methodology, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 11, 717–739, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-717-2019 2. Dorigo, W.A., Wagner, W., Albergel, C., Albrecht, F., Balsamo, G., Brocca, L., Chung, D., Ertl, M., Forkel, M., Gruber, A., Haas, E., Hamer, D. P. Hirschi, M., Ikonen, J., De Jeu, R. Kidd, R. Lahoz, W., Liu, Y.Y., Miralles, D., Lecomte, P. (2017). ESA CCI Soil Moisture for improved Earth system understanding: State-of-the art and future directions. In Remote Sensing of Environment, 2017, ISSN 0034-4257, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.07.001 3. Gruber, A., Dorigo, W. A., Crow, W., Wagner W. (2017). Triple Collocation-Based Merging of Satellite Soil Moisture Retrievals. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. PP. 1-13. 10.1109/TGRS.2017.2734070

The Soil Moisture CCI PASSIVE dataset is one of three datasets created as part of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Soil Moisture Essential Climate Variable (ECV) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) project. The product has been created by merging data from the SMMR, SSM/I, TMI, AMSR-E, WindSat, AMSR2, SMOS, SMAP, FY-3B and GPM satellite instruments. ACTIVE and COMBINED products have also been created. The v06.1 PASSIVE product, provided as global daily images in NetCDF-4 classic file format, presents a global coverage of surface soil moisture at a spatial resolution of 0.25 degrees. It is provided in volumetric units [m3 m-3] and covers the period (yyyy-mm-dd) 1978-11-01 to 2020-12-31. For information regarding the theoretical and algorithmic base of the product, please see the Algorithm Theoretical Baseline Document. Additional reference documents and information relating to the dataset can also be found on the CCI Soil Moisture project website. The data set should be cited using the following references: 1. Gruber, A., Scanlon, T., van der Schalie, R., Wagner, W., and Dorigo, W. (2019). Evolution of the ESA CCI Soil Moisture climate data records and their underlying merging methodology, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 11, 717–739, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-717-2019 2. Dorigo, W.A., Wagner, W., Albergel, C., Albrecht, F., Balsamo, G., Brocca, L., Chung, D., Ertl, M., Forkel, M., Gruber, A., Haas, E., Hamer, D. P. Hirschi, M., Ikonen, J., De Jeu, R. Kidd, R. Lahoz, W., Liu, Y.Y., Miralles, D., Lecomte, P. (2017). ESA CCI Soil Moisture for improved Earth system understanding: State-of-the art and future directions. In Remote Sensing of Environment, 2017, ISSN 0034-4257, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.07.001

The Soil Moisture CCI COMBINED dataset is one of three datasets created as part of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Soil Moisture Essential Climate Variable (ECV) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) project. The product has been created by directly merging Level 2 scatterometer and radiometer soil moisture products derived from the AMI-WS, ASCAT, SMMR, SSM/I, TMI, AMSR-E, WindSat, AMSR2, SMOS and SMAP satellite instruments. PASSIVE and ACTIVE products have also been created. The v05.3 COMBINED product, provided as global daily images in NetCDF-4 classic file format, presents a global coverage of surface soil moisture at a spatial resolution of 0.25 degrees. It is provided in volumetric units [m3 m-3] and covers the period (yyyy-mm-dd) 1978-11-01 to 2020-12-31. For information regarding the theoretical and algorithmic base of the product, please see the Algorithm Theoretical Baseline Document. Other additional reference documents and information relating to the dataset can also be found on the CCI Soil Moisture project website. The data set should be cited using all three of the following references: 1. Gruber, A., Scanlon, T., van der Schalie, R., Wagner, W., and Dorigo, W. (2019). Evolution of the ESA CCI Soil Moisture climate data records and their underlying merging methodology, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 11, 717–739, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-717-2019 2. Dorigo, W.A., Wagner, W., Albergel, C., Albrecht, F., Balsamo, G., Brocca, L., Chung, D., Ertl, M., Forkel, M., Gruber, A., Haas, E., Hamer, D. P. Hirschi, M., Ikonen, J., De Jeu, R. Kidd, R. Lahoz, W., Liu, Y.Y., Miralles, D., Lecomte, P. (2017). ESA CCI Soil Moisture for improved Earth system understanding: State-of-the art and future directions. In Remote Sensing of Environment, 2017, ISSN 0034-4257, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.07.001 3. Gruber, A., Dorigo, W. A., Crow, W., Wagner W. (2017). Triple Collocation-Based Merging of Satellite Soil Moisture Retrievals. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. PP. 1-13. 10.1109/TGRS.2017.2734070

The Soil Moisture CCI PASSIVE dataset is one of three datasets created as part of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Soil Moisture Essential Climate Variable (ECV) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) project. The product has been created by merging data from the SMMR, SSM/I, TMI, AMSR-E, WindSat, AMSR2, SMOS and SMAP satellite instruments. ACTIVE and COMBINED products have also been created. The v05.2 PASSIVE product, provided as global daily images in NetCDF-4 classic file format, presents a global coverage of surface soil moisture at a spatial resolution of 0.25 degrees. It is provided in volumetric units [m3 m-3] and covers the period (yyyy-mm-dd) 1978-11-01 to 2019-12-31. For information regarding the theoretical and algorithmic base of the product, please see the Algorithm Theoretical Baseline Document. Other additional reference documents and information relating to the dataset can also be found on the CCI Soil Moisture project website. The data set should be cited using all three of the following references: 1. Gruber, A., Scanlon, T., van der Schalie, R., Wagner, W., and Dorigo, W. (2019). Evolution of the ESA CCI Soil Moisture climate data records and their underlying merging methodology, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 11, 717–739, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-717-2019 2. Dorigo, W.A., Wagner, W., Albergel, C., Albrecht, F., Balsamo, G., Brocca, L., Chung, D., Ertl, M., Forkel, M., Gruber, A., Haas, E., Hamer, D. P. Hirschi, M., Ikonen, J., De Jeu, R. Kidd, R. Lahoz, W., Liu, Y.Y., Miralles, D., Lecomte, P. (2017). ESA CCI Soil Moisture for improved Earth system understanding: State-of-the art and future directions. In Remote Sensing of Environment, 2017, ISSN 0034-4257, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.07.001 3. Gruber, A., Dorigo, W. A., Crow, W., Wagner W. (2017). Triple Collocation-Based Merging of Satellite Soil Moisture Retrievals. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. PP. 1-13. 10.1109/TGRS.2017.2734070

The Soil Moisture CCI 'Passive' dataset is one of the three datasets created as part of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Soil Moisture Essential Climate Variable (ECV) CCI project. The product has been created by fusing radiometer soil moisture products, merging data from the SMMR, SSM/I, TMI, AMSR-E, WindSat, AMSR2 and SMOS satellite instruments. 'Active' and 'Combined' products have also been created, the 'Active' product being a fusion of AMI-WS and ASCAT derived scatterometer products and the 'Combined Product' being a blended product based on the former two data sets. The v03.2 Passive product presents a global coverage of surface soil moisture at a spatial resolution of 0.25 degrees. The product is provided in volumetric units [m3 m-3] and covers the period (yyyy-mm-dd) 1978-11-01 to 2015-12-31. It consists of global daily images stored within yearly folders and are NetCDF-4 classic file formatted. For information regarding the theoretical and algorithmic base of the product, please see the Algorithm Theoretical Baseline Document. Other additional reference documents and information relating to the dataset can also be found on the CCI Soil Moisture project web site or within the Product Specification Document. The data set should be cited using all three of the following references: 1. Dorigo, W.A., Wagner, W., Albergel, C., Albrecht, F., Balsamo, G., Brocca, L., Chung, D., Ertl, M., Forkel, M., Gruber, A., Haas, E., Hamer, D. P. Hirschi, M., Ikonen, J., De Jeu, R. Kidd, R. Lahoz, W., Liu, Y.Y., Miralles, D., Lecomte, P. (2017). ESA CCI Soil Moisture for improved Earth system understanding: State-of-the art and future directions. In Remote Sensing of Environment, 2017, ISSN 0034-4257, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.07.001 2. Gruber, A., Dorigo, W. A., Crow, W., Wagner W. (2017). Triple Collocation-Based Merging of Satellite Soil Moisture Retrievals. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. PP. 1-13. 10.1109/TGRS.2017.2734070 3. Liu, Y.Y., Dorigo, W.A., Parinussa, R.M., de Jeu, R.A.M. , Wagner, W., McCabe, M.F., Evans, J.P., van Dijk, A.I.J.M. (2012). Trend-preserving blending of passive and active microwave soil moisture retrievals, Remote Sensing of Environment, 123, 280-297, doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2012.03.014

The Soil Moisture CCI COMBINED dataset is one of three datasets created as part of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Soil Moisture Essential Climate Variable (ECV) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) project. The product has been created by directly merging Level 2 scatterometer and radiometer soil moisture products derived from the AMI-WS, ASCAT, SMMR, SSM/I, TMI, AMSR-E, WindSat, AMSR2, SMOS and SMAP satellite instruments. PASSIVE and ACTIVE products have also been created. The v05.2 COMBINED product, provided as global daily images in NetCDF-4 classic file format, presents a global coverage of surface soil moisture at a spatial resolution of 0.25 degrees. It is provided in volumetric units [m3 m-3] and covers the period (yyyy-mm-dd) 1978-11-01 to 2019-12-31. For information regarding the theoretical and algorithmic base of the product, please see the Algorithm Theoretical Baseline Document. Other additional reference documents and information relating to the dataset can also be found on the CCI Soil Moisture project website. The data set should be cited using all three of the following references: 1. Gruber, A., Scanlon, T., van der Schalie, R., Wagner, W., and Dorigo, W. (2019). Evolution of the ESA CCI Soil Moisture climate data records and their underlying merging methodology, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 11, 717–739, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-717-2019 2. Dorigo, W.A., Wagner, W., Albergel, C., Albrecht, F., Balsamo, G., Brocca, L., Chung, D., Ertl, M., Forkel, M., Gruber, A., Haas, E., Hamer, D. P. Hirschi, M., Ikonen, J., De Jeu, R. Kidd, R. Lahoz, W., Liu, Y.Y., Miralles, D., Lecomte, P. (2017). ESA CCI Soil Moisture for improved Earth system understanding: State-of-the art and future directions. In Remote Sensing of Environment, 2017, ISSN 0034-4257, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.07.001 3. Gruber, A., Dorigo, W. A., Crow, W., Wagner W. (2017). Triple Collocation-Based Merging of Satellite Soil Moisture Retrievals. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. PP. 1-13. 10.1109/TGRS.2017.2734070

An experimental break-adjusted soil-moisture product has been generated by the ESA Soil Moisture Climate Change Initiative (Soil_Moisture_cci) project for the first time with their v06.1 data release. The product attempts to reduce breaks in the final CCI product by matching the statistics of the datasets between merging periods. At v06.1, the break-adjustment process (explained in Preimesberger et al. 2020) is applied only to the COMBINED product, using ERA5 soil moisture as a reference. The Soil Moisture CCI COMBINED dataset is one of three datasets created as part of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Soil Moisture Essential Climate Variable (ECV) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) project. The product has been created by directly merging Level 2 scatterometer and radiometer soil moisture products derived from the AMI-WS, ASCAT, SMMR, SSM/I, TMI, AMSR-E, WindSat, AMSR2, SMOS, SMAP, FY-3B and GPM satellite instruments. PASSIVE and ACTIVE products have also been created. The v06.1 COMBINED break-adjusted product, provided as global daily images in NetCDF-4 classic file format, presents a global coverage of surface soil moisture at a spatial resolution of 0.25 degrees. It is provided in volumetric units [m3 m-3] and covers the period (yyyy-mm-dd) 1978-11-01 to 2020-12-31. For information regarding the theoretical and algorithmic base of the product, please see the Algorithm Theoretical Baseline Document and Preimesberger et al. 2020. Additional reference documents and information relating to the dataset can also be found on the CCI Soil Moisture project website. The data set should be cited using all of the following references: 1. Gruber, A., Scanlon, T., van der Schalie, R., Wagner, W., and Dorigo, W. (2019). Evolution of the ESA CCI Soil Moisture climate data records and their underlying merging methodology, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 11, 717–739, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-717-2019 2. Dorigo, W.A., Wagner, W., Albergel, C., Albrecht, F., Balsamo, G., Brocca, L., Chung, D., Ertl, M., Forkel, M., Gruber, A., Haas, E., Hamer, D. P. Hirschi, M., Ikonen, J., De Jeu, R. Kidd, R. Lahoz, W., Liu, Y.Y., Miralles, D., Lecomte, P. (2017). ESA CCI Soil Moisture for improved Earth system understanding: State-of-the art and future directions. In Remote Sensing of Environment, 2017, ISSN 0034-4257, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.07.001 3. Preimesberger, W., Scanlon, T., Su, C. -H., Gruber, A. and Dorigo, W., "Homogenization of Structural Breaks in the Global ESA CCI Soil Moisture Multisatellite Climate Data Record," in IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 59, no. 4, pp. 2845-2862, April 2021, doi: 10.1109/TGRS.2020.3012896.