On-Ground Characterization of the SMOS Payload

Corbella, I.; Torres, F.; Duffo, N.; Martín-Neira, Manuel; González-Gambau, Verónica; Camps, A.; Vall-llossera, M.

doi:10.1109/tgrs.2009.2016333

Cited by 34 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…18). They included the following: calibration sequence evaluation, polarization check, stability, inter-element phase retrieval, correlation offset, electromagnetic compatibility and image validation (Corbella et al 2009). …”

Section: On-ground Characterization Of the Smos Payloadmentioning

confidence: 99%

From field experiments to salinity products: a tribute to the contributions of Jordi Font to the SMOS mission

Camps¹,

Gabarró²,

Vall-llossera³

et al. 2016

Sci. Mar.

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Summary:This article summarizes some of the activities in which Jordi Font, research professor and head of the Department of Physical and Technological Oceanography, Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC, Spanish National Research Council) in Barcelona, has been involved as co-Principal Investigator for Ocean Salinity of the European Space Agency Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) Earth Explorer Mission from the perspective of the Remote Sensing Lab at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. We have probably left out some of his many contributions to salinity remote sensing, but we hope that this review will give an idea of the importance of his work. We focus on the following issues: 1) the new accurate measurements of the sea water dielectric constant, 2) the WISE and EuroSTARRS field experiments that helped to define the geophysical model function relating brightness temperature to sea state, 3) the FROG 2003 field experiment that helped to understand the emission of sea foam, 4) GNSS-R techniques for improving sea surface salinity retrieval, 5) instrument characterization campaigns, and 6) the operational implementation of the Processing Centre of Levels 3 and 4 at the SMOS Barcelona Expert Centre.Keywords: SMOS; radiometry; interferometry; calibration; validation; salinity; soil moisture; sea ice; GNSS-R. De campañas de medidas a productos de salinidad: un tributo a las contribuciones de Jordi Font a la mision SMOSResumen: Este artículo resume algunas de las actividades en las que Jordi Font, profesor de investigación y jefe del Departamento de Física y Tecnología Oceanográfica, del Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC) en Barcelona, ha estado desarrollando como co-Investigador Principal de la parte de la misión SMOS de la ESA, una misión Earth Explorer, desde la perspectiva del Remote Sensing Lab, de la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Seguramente, estamos olvidando algunas de sus muchas contribuciones a la teledetección de la salinidad, pero esperamos que esta revisión dé una idea de la importancia de su trabajo. Este artículo se focaliza en los siguientes puntos: 1) las medidas de alta calidad de la constante dieléctrica del agua marina, 2) las campañas de medidas WISE y EuroSTARRS que ayudaron a la definición del modelo geofísico relacionando la temperatura de brillo con el estado del mar, 3) la campaña de medidas FROG 2003 que ayudó a entender la emisión de la espuma marina 4) presentación de las técnicas de GNSS-R para la mejora de la recuperación de la salinidad superficial 5) campañas para la caracterización del instrumento y 6) la implantación del centro de procesado operacional de niveles 3 y 4 en el SMOS Barcelona Expert Centre.Palabras clave: SMOS; radiometría; interferometría; calibración; validación; salinidad; humedad del terreno; hielo marino; GNSS-R.Citation/Como citar este artículo: Camps A., Gabarró C., Vall-llossera M., Blanch S., Aguasca A., Torres F., Corbella I., Duffo N., Turiel A., Portabella M., Ballabrera-Poy J., González-Gambau V., Martínez J., Villarino R., Enrique L., Mo...

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Section: On-ground Characterization Of the Smos Payloadmentioning

confidence: 99%

From field experiments to salinity products: a tribute to the contributions of Jordi Font to the SMOS mission

Camps¹,

Gabarró²,

Vall-llossera³

et al. 2016

Sci. Mar.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…As part of the commissioning phase tests, MTS has been used to assess the thermal and electrical stability and compare the results with those obtained during the on-ground characterization [18]. Among a number of different studies, a few important ones are explained below:…”

Section: Instrument Calibrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of the CALIMAS Team Contributions to European Space Agency’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity Mission Calibration and Validation

et al. 2012

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This work summarizes the activities carried out by the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) Barcelona Expert Center (SMOS-BEC) team in conjunction with the CIALE/Universidad de Salamanca team, within the framework of the European Space Agency (ESA) CALIMAS project in preparation for the SMOS mission and during its first year of operation. Under these activities several studies were performed, ranging from Level 1 (calibration and image reconstruction) to Level 4 (land pixel disaggregation techniques, by means of data fusion with higher resolution data from optical/infrared sensors). Validation of SMOS salinity products by means of surface drifters developed ad-hoc, and soil moisture products over the REMEDHUS site (Zamora, Spain) are also presented. Results of other preparatory activities carried out to improve the performance of eventual SMOS follow-on missions are presented, including GNSS-R to infer the sea state correction needed for improved ocean salinity retrievals and land surface parameters. Results from CALIMAS show a satisfactory performance of the MIRAS instrument, the accuracy and efficiency of the algorithms implemented in the ground data processors, and explore the limits of spatial resolution of soil moisture products using data fusion, as well as the feasibility of GNSS-R techniques for sea state determination and soil moisture monitoring.

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“…These terms were originated by mechanical tolerances in the manufacturing process and thus assumed very stable. They have been measured on ground by means of an external beacon in the anechoic chamber during the ground image validation test [4]. The fringe washing term (also referred to as non-separable phase term) is caused by frequency response differences between receivers.…”

Section: Calibration Periodicitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Now each visibility sample is related to the so-called modified brightness temperature , for instance, by (1) in [10]: (4) where are the direction cosines and the spatial frequencies related to the sample . Now, a measurement of the brightness temperature at the antenna polarization frame can be obtained by a number of inversion methods [10].…”

Section: Brightness Temperature Retrievalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, more stable parameters such as antenna patterns, switch S-parameters and others, are directly used from on-ground characterization. Since MIRAS calibration has been described in [2][3] and calibration performance has also been comprehensively illustrated in [4][5], this paper is devoted to give an overview of the calibration scheme as a whole. First the classification of SMOS calibration procedures into internal, external and ground calibration events is addressed in the next section.…”

Section: Introduction To Miras Calibrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

SMOS brightness temperature measurements and end-to-end calibration

Torres¹,

Corbella²,

Duffo³

et al. 2011

2011 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium

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SMOS is the acronym for the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) [1]. Its single payload, the Microwave Imaging Radiometer using Aperture Synthesis (MIRAS), was launched in November 2009. After a six months Commissioning Phase SMOS entered in operational mode in May 2010. Since then SMOS has been delivering a large amount of data to successfully produce the first relevant scientific results. In order to provide accurate measurements, MIRAS requires a complex multi-step calibration procedure that was successfully tested both during pre-flight ground tests and Commissioning Phase activities. Additionally, an assessment of SMOS system performance in terms of short and long term stability, radiometric sensitivity and radiometric accuracy was also produced. In this context, this work is devoted to provide a high level overview of MIRAS calibration scheme by focusing on the rationale behind it.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

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On-Ground Characterization of the SMOS Payload

Cited by 34 publications

References 26 publications

From field experiments to salinity products: a tribute to the contributions of Jordi Font to the SMOS mission

From field experiments to salinity products: a tribute to the contributions of Jordi Font to the SMOS mission

Review of the CALIMAS Team Contributions to European Space Agency’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity Mission Calibration and Validation

SMOS brightness temperature measurements and end-to-end calibration

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