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R. De Jeu, W. Wagner, W. Dorigo, D. Chung, R. Parinussa, E. Haas, R. Kidd, W. Lahoz, Ned Dwyer, K. Rautiainen, H. Mittelbach, S. Seneviratne, M. Hirschi, P. Lecomte:
"The production of a multi-decadal satellite soil moisture data record";
Talk: 4th iLEAPS Science Conference "Terrestrial ecosystems, atmosphere, and people in the Earth system", Nanjing, China; 2014-05-12 - 2014-05-16.

A long term soil moisture data record based on existing passive and active microwave satellite observations has been developed as part of ESA's Climate Change Initiative (CCI) programme. The CCI Soil Moisture project started in January 2012 with the objective to produce the most complete and most consistent global soil moisture data record based on current and historical microwave sensors. In June 2012 a first public multi-decadal soil moisture data set was released. This data set covered a 32 year period from 1978 to 2010, with a 0.25 degree spatial resolution and a global coverage.
Since its publication more than five hundred different organizations have downloaded the soil moisture product and incorporated them in a wide range of applications in the fields of hydrology, meteorology and climate (change). This makes it one of the most intensively used soil moisture products currently available.
Here we will give an overview of the production of this long term data record, including a description of the methodology, validation activities and research applications. The usefulness of this data set for climate research and land atmosphere studies will be demonstrated. In addition, future improvements regarding the harmonization strategy and the integration of new satellite sensors to extent the data record, including ESA´s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity Mission (SMOS), will be discussed.