On December 12th 2022, the International Soil Moisture Network (ISMN), a global data service for in situ soil moisture, successfully transferred all operations to its new hosts in Koblenz, Germany. The International Centre for Water Resources and Global Change (ICWRGC) and the Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG) have jointly provided a stable operational base and a permanent home for ISMN throughout the last year. Reflecting on this period, the ISMN takes pride in consistently delivering reliable ser-vice to both its data providers and users as well as in working on several new devel-opments.

Soil moisture is an essential variable for assessing food security, agricultural drought, climate impacts and water resources management. Hence, sharing data globally is of utmost interest for a variety of stakeholders including scientists, water and disaster managers as well as policymakers. The International Soil Moisture Network unites institutional and research data and disseminates them free of charge to anyone interested. These data are not only available for the past but 30% of the database has data in near-real-time being delivered to the users.

Historical development and transfer to Koblenz

The ISMN has been developed at the Department of Geodesy and Geoinformation at the Technical University (TU) Wien starting in 2009. Over the years, it evolved into a primary reference for satellite soil moisture, garnering a diverse user base. Despite its big success story, the ISMN faced operational challenges with short-term contracts and funding issued by the European Space Agency (ESA). Hence, the TU Wien looked for a new host that could overcome these challenges.
Finally, the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport agreed to fund this important environmental information infrastructure, including 5 scientific and operational staff members. The International Centre for Water Resources and Global Change (ICWRGC) and the Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG) were jointly assigned as the new host. The planning of the transfer took place throughout the years 2021 and 2022. In December 2022 both teams, at TU Wien and ICWRGC/BfG could celebrate the successful launch of operations at the new hosting facility while enjoying a slice of cake as captured in the photo. The transfer as well as the first year of operations went smoothly without any major interruptions for the users of the service.

ISMN now and in future

Nowadays, the ISMN hosts about 3000 monitoring stations across 58 countries (as shown next to the map). These data are voluntary contributions from 77 observational networks around the world that appreciate ISMN’s service towards them and its users. The new ISMN team in Koblenz is actively addressing technical challenges to enhance the service's robustness and reliability. Simultaneously, they have successfully incorporated new data from the USA, Netherlands, Spain, China and the UK in the last one year.
For the future, ISMN will intensify its data acquisition efforts, especially in the global south and Asia, to expand its global data coverage. For supporting this aim, ISMN is seeking active collaboration with international organisations like the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).