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2012 Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing of the Environment

March 5-9, 2012
Rome, Italy

The 12th Specialist Meeting addressed the latest developments and advances in the field of microwave radiometry for Earth remote sensing. Seven papers related to Aquarius were presented at this conference, including Aquarius initial results, retrieval algorithms, seawater dielectric constant measurements, soil moisture retrieval simulation, and other topics.

Call for Papers
Documents (6)
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An Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) for the Aquarius/SAC-D Soil Moisture Product
Bruscantini, C.A., Grings, F.M., Perna, P., Karszenbaum, H., Crow, W.T., and Jacobo, J.C.A. (28-Sep-15). An Observing System Simulation Experiment for the Aquarius/SAC-D mission is being developed for assessing the accuracy of soil moisture retrieval from passive and active L-band remote sensing. The implementation of the OSSE is based on: a backscatter model and a forward microwave emission model to simulate the radiometer and scatterometer observations, a realistic orbital and sensor model to resample the measurements, and an inverse soil moisture retrieval model.

Aquarius Third Stokes Parameter Measurements: Initial Results
Utku, C., Le Vine, D.M., Abraham, S., and Piepmeier, J. (28-Sep-15). One of the unique features of the L-band radiometers comprising Aquarius is the presence of a polarimetric channel to measure the third Stokes parameter.mThe purpose is to provide a measure of Faraday rotation, which can be important for remote sensing at L-band, especially in the case of remote sensing of salinity which requires high precision.

Aquarius: The Instrument and Initial Results
Le Vine, D.M., Lagerloef, G.S.E., Ruf, C., Wentz, F., Yueh, S., Piepmeier, J., Lindstrom, E., and Dinnat, E. (28-Sep-15). This paper provides an overview of the instrument and an example of initial results of the Aquarius/SAC-D mission.

Comparison of Aquarius Measurements and Radiative Transfer Models at L-band
Dinnat, E.P., Le Vine, D.M., Abraham, S., de Matthaeis, P., and Utku, C. (28-Sep-15). Spaceborne radiometric measurements at L-band from the Aquarius instrument are compared to numerical model simulation. Measurements/model comparisons are also performed to assess the uncertainty of various aspects of the data processing that are critical for retrieving Sea Surface Salinity, such as the correction for Faraday rotation and the impact of sea surface roughness on the surface signal.

Increased Accuracy in the Measurement of the Dielectric Constant of Seawater at 1.413 GHz
Zhou, Y., Lang, R.H., Drego, C., Utku, C., and Le Vine, D. (28-Sep-15). The paper discusses the improved experimental methods used for the 2011-12 measurements of the dielectric constant of seawater. The new measurement data is also be compared with Klein-Swift (KS) model function and Meissner-Wentz (MW) model function.

The Aquarius Salinity Retrieval Algorithm
Meissner, T., Wentz, F., Lagerloef, G., and Le Vine, D. (28-Sep-15). This paper gives an overview of the algorithm for retrieving sea surface salinity from the AQUARIUS L-band radiometer and its physical background.