ISRO’s NISAR mission to track India’s soil moisture at 100m resolution

ISRO has announced that the NISAR mission will generate high-resolution 100-metre soil moisture data across India every 12 days to support agriculture and water management.

India’s space agency Indian Space Research Organisation on Saturday said that the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) is systematically imaging the Indian landmass in S- and L-bands to deliver high-resolution, wide-swath data with a repeat cycle of 12 days.

The data has been effectively utilised to demonstrate generation of soil moisture products at a spatial resolution of 100 metres.

According to ISRO, soil moisture is a key indicator of crop health, irrigation requirements and drought risk, making it crucial for India’s agriculture and water resource management.

The agency said the soil moisture products, generated using both S- and L-band data, provide consistent estimates across diverse agro-climatic zones — including irrigated plains, rainfed farmlands, semi-arid regions and high-rainfall areas.

The physics-based soil moisture retrieval algorithm has been developed at the Space Applications Centre (SAC-ISRO), ensuring scientific robustness, reliability and operational accuracy.

“With the ability to deliver two observations every 12 days, NISAR enables near-real-time tracking of soil moisture dynamics. This frequent monitoring supports irrigation planning, drought preparedness, agrometeorological advisories and regional water resource management at district and community scales,” ISRO said.

For national-level operations, the 100m Level-4 operational soil moisture products will be systematically generated at the National Remote Sensing Centre (IMGEOS/NRSC) and disseminated through the Bhoonidhi Portal, ensuring access for farmers, planners, researchers, government agencies and non-government entities across the country.
(With PTI inputs)