On the assessment of SMOS salinity retrieval by using Support Vector Regression (SVR)

A sounding of the capabilities of a novel salinity retrieval strategy by means of Support Vector Regression (SVR) has been performed. SMOS brightness temperatures measurements and additional auxiliary parameters have been co-located with salinity data collected by ARGO buoys, which represented the ground-truth to be matched by the algorithm. Salinity fields estimated by the SVR are in good agreement with the ground-truth, suggesting that the chosen approach can be promising, despite its robustness and versatility are under further assessment over wider areas and time lags, and in various combinations of SMOS features.