In recent years, the modelling approach to rainfall-runoff transformation has focused on catchment emergent properties, acting as signature of catchment hydrological response. One of these properties, observed in many catchments worldwide, is the threshold relation, between soil moisture and runoff, identified as the critical point at which runoff behaviour rapidly changes. In this study, observed, modelled and satellite-derived soil moisture data are used for analyzing the runoff response of four experimental basins over Europe. Specifically, firstly the simulated and satellite soil moisture data are compared with in situ observations for assessing their reliability. Secondly, the capability of satellite data to detect the differences in the threshold-based hydrological response of the basins is investigated.