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Groundwater and Soil Moisture Conditions from GRACE Data Assimilation

Associated Agencies

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)

Scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center generate groundwater and soil moisture drought indicators each week. They are based on terrestrial water storage observations derived from GRACE satellite data and integrated with other observations, using a sophisticated numerical model of land surface water and energy processes. The drought indicators describe current wet or dry conditions, expressed as a percentile showing the probability of occurrence within the period of record from 1948 to the 2012, with lower values (warm colors) meaning dryer than normal, and higher values (blues) meaning wetter than normal. These are provided as both images and binary data files.

Shallow Groundwater: Wetness Percentile
70
100
Surface Soil Moisture: Wetness Percentile
70
100
Root Zone Soil Moisture: Wetness Percentile
70
100

Not Updated

How to

What can I do with these data?

  • View weekly groundwater, root zone and surface soil moisture maps and compare those with previous weeks.

How do I use the site?

  • Roll your cursor over the different map products at the bottom of the page
  • To download image, select the “.PNG” or “.PDF” icons below each map product
  • View archived maps, compare maps or download data using the tabs at the top of the page

Access

Groundwater and Soil Moisture Conditions from GRACE Data Assimilation Maps: home page for these map products hosted at The National Drought Mitigation Center – University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Groundwater and Soil Moisture Conditions from GRACE Data Assimilation data: download weekly data files