Climate change resulting in ocean warming, sea level rise, and sea ice melting has consequences for the global economy, navigation, and security. The Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer (CIMR) mission is a high priority candidate mission within the European Copernicus Expansion program. CIMR is designed to observe the ocean and sea ice and more particularly the Arctic environment. Sea surface temperature (SST), ocean wind speed, sea surface salinity (SSS), and sea ice concentration (SIC) are fundamental variables for understanding, monitoring, and predicting the state of the ocean and sea ice. CIMR is a conically scanning microwave radiometer imager that includes channels at 1.4, 6.9, 10.65, 18.7, and 36.5 GHz, in a Sun-synchronous polar orbit, to provide SST, ocean wind speed, SSS, and SIC with an increased accuracy and/or spatial resolution. Here we analyze the performances of the CIMR mission in terms of theoretical retrieval precision and spatial resolution on the SST, SSS, and SIC products. A careful information content analysis is conducted. The CIMR performances are compared with the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 and the Soil Moisture Active Passive current missions. Maps of the retrieval precision based on realistic conditions are computed. CIMR will provide SST, SSS, and SIC with a spatial resolution of 15, 55, and 5 km and a precision of 0.2 K, 0.3 psu, and 5%, respectively. The SST and SIC will be retrieved at better than 30 km from the coast. CIMR is currently in preparatory phase, and if selected, it is for a launch in the 2025+ time frame.Plain Language Summary Climate change resulting in ocean warming, sea level rise, and sea ice melting has consequences for the global economy, navigation, and security. The Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer mission is a high priority candidate satellite mission within the European Copernicus Expansion program. It is designed to observe the ocean and sea ice and more particularly the Arctic environment. Sea surface temperature, ocean wind speed, sea surface salinity, and sea ice concentration are fundamental variables for understanding, monitoring, and predicting the state of the ocean and sea ice. Here we analyze the performances of this new satellite mission in terms of precision and spatial resolution on the sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity, and sea ice concentration and compare it with current missions. The Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer will provide sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity, and sea ice concentration with a spatial resolution of 15, 55, and 5 km and a precision of 0.2 K, 0.3 psu, and 5%, respectively. This satellite mission is currently in preparatory phase, and if selected, it is for a launch in the 2025 time frame.

Abstract. Mapping sea ice concentration (SIC) and understanding sea ice properties and variability is important, especially today with the recent Arctic sea ice decline. Moreover, accurate estimation of the sea ice effective temperature (Teff) at 50 GHz is needed for atmospheric sounding applications over sea ice and for noise reduction in SIC estimates. At low microwave frequencies, the sensitivity to the atmosphere is low, and it is possible to derive sea ice parameters due to the penetration of microwaves in the snow and ice layers. In this study, we propose simple algorithms to derive the snow depth, the snow–ice interface temperature (TSnow−Ice) and the Teff of Arctic sea ice from microwave brightness temperatures (TBs). This is achieved using the Round Robin Data Package of the ESA sea ice CCI project, which contains TBs from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) collocated with measurements from ice mass balance buoys (IMBs) and the NASA Operation Ice Bridge (OIB) airborne campaigns over the Arctic sea ice. The snow depth over sea ice is estimated with an error of 5.1 cm, using a multilinear regression with the TBs at 6, 18, and 36 V. The TSnow−Ice is retrieved using a linear regression as a function of the snow depth and the TBs at 10 or 6 V. The root mean square errors (RMSEs) obtained are 2.87 and 2.90 K respectively, with 10 and 6 V TBs. The Teff at microwave frequencies between 6 and 89 GHz is expressed as a function of TSnow−Ice using data from a thermodynamical model combined with the Microwave Emission Model of Layered Snowpacks. Teff is estimated from the TSnow−Ice with a RMSE of less than 1 K.