L-band sea surface emissivity radiometric observations under high winds: Preliminary results of the Wind and Salinity Experiment WISE-2001

The WISE 2000 and WISE 2001 field campaigns were sponsored by ESA to gather experimental data to improve the knowledge of the L-band brightness temperature dependence with wind speed at different incidence angles and azimuth angles. The goal is to help the development of sea surface salinity retrieval algorithms for SMOS Earth Explorer Mission of the European Space Agency. The L-band AUtomatic RAdiometer (LAURA) plus other sensors to characterize the sea surface state were installed at the Casablanca oil rig, 40 km south east off the coast of Tarragona in Spain. During WISE 2000 wind conditions were low-to-moderate, but during WISE 2001 two strong storms beat the Catalonian coast with sustained winds higher than 100 km/h at the platform meteorological station (69 m height). The first results of the radiometric measurements (azimuth and elevation scans) acquired with LAURA during the WInd and Salinity Experiment (WISE-2001) are presented.