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Accurate estimates of soil moisture as initial conditions to hydrological models are expected to greatly increase the accuracy of flood and drought predictions. As in-situ soil moisture observations are scarce, satellite-based estimates are a suitable alternative. The validation of remotely sensed soil moisture products is generally hampered by the difference in spatial support of in-situ observations and satellite footprints. Unsaturated zone modeling may serve as a valuable validation tool because it could bridge the gap of different spatial supports. A stochastic, distributed unsaturated zone model (SWAP) was used in which the spatial support was matched to these of the satellite soil moisture retrievals. A comparison between point observations and the SWAP model was performed to enhance understanding of the model and to assure that the SWAP model could be used with confidence for other locations in Spain. A …