The Soil Moisture Active/Passive Mission (SMAP)

Author

Entekhabi, Dara ; Njoku, Eni ; O´Neill, Peggy ; Spencer, Michael ; Jackson, Tom ; Entin, Jared ; Im, Eastwood ; Kellogg, Kent

Author_Institution

Massachusetts Inst. of Technol., Cambridge, MA

Volume

3

fYear

2008

fDate

7-11 July 2008

Abstract

The Soil Moisture Active/Passive (SMAP) mission will deliver global views of soil moisture content and its freeze/thaw state that are critical terrestrial water cycle state variables. Polarized measurements obtained with a shared antenna L-band radar and radiometer system will allow accurate estimation of soil moisture at hydrometeorological scale (10 km) and hydroclimatological scale (40 km) resolutions. The sensors will share a feed and a deployable light-weight mesh reflector that will make conical scans of the Earth surface at a constant look angle. The wide-swath (1000 km) measurements will allow global mapping of soil moisture and its freeze/thaw state with 2-3 days revisit. Freeze/thaw in boreal latitudes will be mapped using the radar at 3 km resolution with 1-2 days revisit. The synergy of active and passive measurements enables global soil moisture mapping with unprecedented resolution, sensitivity, area coverage, and revisit. This paper outlines the science objectives of the SMAP mission and provides an overview of the measurement approach and data products.

Keywords

moisture; polarisation; radiometry; remote sensing; soil; Earth surface; L-band radar; SMAP mission; Soil Moisture Active-Passive Mission; agriculture productivity; carbon cycle; climate prediction; drought forecast; flood forecast; freeze state; hydroclimatology scale; hydrometeorology scale; polarized measurement; radiometer system; salinity; sea ice; soil moisture content; soil moisture mapping; surface wind; terrestrial water cycle; thaw state; weather forecast; wide-swath measurement; Antenna measurements; L-band; Moisture measurement; Optical polarization; Radar antennas; Radar measurements; Radiometry; SMAP mission; Soil measurements; Soil moisture; Freeze/Thaw; Missions; Sensors and Systems; Soil Moisture; Water Cycle;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2008. IGARSS 2008. IEEE International

Conference_Location

Boston, MA

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-2807-6

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-2808-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IGARSS.2008.4779267

Filename

4779267