Soil Water Content
Soil water content is the amount of water between the soil surface and the groundwater level in the unsaturated zone. This ratio of water volume to soil volume is crucial for understanding soil health, hydrological processes, and drought conditions.
The Planet Soil Water Content (SWC) product offers near-daily measurements with spatial resolutions of 20 m, 100 m, and 1000 m. Based on passive microwave observations, our data is consistent across time and space, strongly correlating with ground data and accurately reflecting weather patterns. This makes it a cost-effective and low-effort alternative to physical soil water content sensors.
Use Cases
Agriculture - You can use SWC data to develop models that assess field conditions, enabling more informed decisions about irrigation and field operations. The data is also used to make yield and crop quality predictions at both regional and field scales.
Drought Monitoring - Tracking conditions over years and decades, SWC data provides a baseline understanding of normal and abnormal conditions for any given region. Leading reinsurers and brokers use the data in more than 20 countries to help protect farmers from drought impacts.
Water Resource Management - Near real-time SWC data aids in monitoring complex water systems by offering insights into water demand and storage capacity. With over two decades of archive data, water resource managers can track droughts, measure soil saturation, and assess intervention effects.
Natural Disaster Risk Assessment - Models incorporating vegetation, weather, and SWC data offer detailed insights into risks for wildfires, floods, and other natural disasters. The data also helps evaluate the impact of ecosystem restoration projects. Compared to in-situ sensors, SWC data provides a cost-effective and less labor-intensive method for risk assessment and remediation tracking.
API Access Information
| API | Available | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Data API | ❌ | |
| Orders API | ❌ | |
| Subscriptions API | ✅ | |
| Analytics API | ❌ | |
| Basemaps API | ❌ |
Subscriptions Access
Soil Water Content 20 m
SWC 20 m is a beta product. This means the product is still under active development and may undergo changes to its methodology, accuracy, or availability. While the data is available for use, users should be aware that the product may have limitations or may be updated based on ongoing validation and feedback.
The area of interest for SWC 20 m should correspond to a single agricultural field. If the AOI of a subscription includes multiple fields, whether they contain different crops or the same crop managed differently, the resulting SWC data will not accurately reflect conditions within any specific field.
Soil Water Content 100 m
Soil Water Content 1000 m
For more information on the Subscriptions API and code samples, see the API documentation.
Additional Resources
Learn the SWC basics with this introduction course.
Read the latest SWC news and stories.
Get started with the Subscriptions API.
Access SWC and create visualizations with this tutorial.
Visualize SWC and extract insights with EvalScripts.