The use of a semi-empirical emissivity model for a rough estimation of sea surface salinity from an airborne microwave radiometer

Abstract

In preparation for the European Space Agency SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) satellite mission, radiometric and oceanographic measurements were performed in December 2000 and January 2001 and in November 2001 from a fixed platform in the NW Mediterranean to improve the modelling of the sea surface emissivity at L-band and new semi-empirical models were derived. Now one of these models has been used to retrieve sea surface salinity from L-band radiometric data acquired with a different instrument and different location. These data were acquired in August 2003 over the continental shelf within the influence of the Rio de la Plata, from Argentina to Brazil, southern Atlantic ocean with the STARRS airborne radiometer. Results show that the radiometer is capable of realistically detecting natural variations in surface salinity even though the model was derived in very different oceanographic conditions and from data collected by a different instrument.

Keywords

• remote sensing
• radiometry
• smos
• salinity measurements
• oceanographic campaigns