Trend-preserving blending of passive and active microwave soil moisture retrievals

► Soil moisture retrievals are available from a series of satellites back to 1979. ► These retrievals were adjusted and combined into one enhance product. ► Seasonality, inter-annual variations and long term changes were well preserved. ► The method presented here allows the product to be extended with more data available. ► The multi-decadal dataset is expected to enhance our understanding of soil moisture.