A main purpose of the International Soil Moisture Network is for validation of satellite observed soil moisture data. This has become an increasingly important tasks given that several global soil moisture datasets derived from microwave radiometers (AMSR-E, Windsat, TRMM, SMMR) and scatterometers (ERS SCAT, ASCAT) have become freely available in recent years. In addition, ESA and NASA prepare for the launch of the first two satellites dedicated to the task of soil moisture retrieval over land, namely the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite launched in November 2009 and the Soil Moisture Active/Passive (SMAP) mission foreseen to be launched in 2013. Below This data hosting facility has been developed thanks for the support of the SMOS project team of ESA.

Satellite: SMOS Sensor: L-band radiometer with aperture synthesis (MIRAS) Agency: ESA Operations: launch in 2009 Resolution: 30-50 km Revisit time: 1-2 days
Satellite: SMAP Sensor: Active and passive microwave instrument in L-band Agency: NASA Operations: launch in 2013 Resolution: 10 km (active) 40 km (passive) Revisit time: 1-2 days
Satellite: METOP (three satellites) Sensor: C-Band Scatterometer (ASCAT) Agency: EUMETSAT in cooperation with ESA Operations: 2006-2020 Resolution: 25/50 km Revisit time: 1-2 days
Satellite: ERS-1 and ERS-2 Sensor: C-Band Scatterometer (SCAT) Agency: ESA Operations: 1991-2010 Resolution: 25/50 km Revisit time: 2-7 days
Satellite: AQUA Sensor: Multi-frequency radiometer (AMSR-E) Agency: NASA in cooperation with JAXA Operations: since 2002 Resolution: 50 km Revisit time: 1-2 days
Satellite: Coriolis WindSat Sensor: Multi-frequency polarimetric radiometer (WindSat) Agency: US Naval and Air Force Research Laboratories Operations: since 2003 Resolution: 50 km Revisit time: 1-2 days