Miriam Pablos Hernández | Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (original) (raw)

Papers by Miriam Pablos Hernández

2015 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2015

New remote sensing techniques based on the analysis of the Earth's surface-reflected signal f... more New remote sensing techniques based on the analysis of the Earth's surface-reflected signal from the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS-Reflectometry, or GNSS-R in short) are emerging. Soil moisture and vegetation status are some of the potential parameters that could be also retrieved from these sources. However, the complex interactions between the soil-vegetation interface can lead to spurious effects on the reflected signal. In order to study these effects, an airborne campaign was developed in an experimental area in Spain in August, 2014. A new GNSS-R-based instrument was flown together with thermal and optical cameras mounted on a paramotor. Ground measurements of soil moisture were taken during the flight. Maps at very high spatial resolution of reflectivity, Land Surface Temperature (LST) and the Digital Surface Model (DSM) were jointly analyzed, together with the ground observations. The results showed an important influence of the topography (i.e., the local incidence angle) on the GNSS-R reflectivity, and promising patterns relating reflectivity with soil moisture and LST were found. However, owing the dry soil and weather conditions during the experiment, further tests are needed over different environment and climatic conditions.

2015 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2015

The Light Airborne Reflectometer for GNSS-R Observations (LARGO) is an airborne instrument design... more The Light Airborne Reflectometer for GNSS-R Observations (LARGO) is an airborne instrument designed for measuring the coherent reflectivity from different soils. In this work, an improved version of LARGO has been used in a field campaign together with other conventional remote sensing instruments. All the corrections made to the raw coherent reflectivity including the antenna pattern compensation, and a topographic correction are presented. The correlation between corrected coherent reflectivity and in situ soil moisture was not high enough due to the dry conditions of the field campaign.

ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, 2015

An airborne campaign was performed during August, 2014 in an agricultural area in the Duero basin... more An airborne campaign was performed during August, 2014 in an agricultural area in the Duero basin (Spain) in order to appraise the synergy between very different sources of Earth Observation imagery, and very different instruments for soil moisture retrieval. During the flight, an intensive field campaign comprising soil, plant and spectral measurements was carried out. An innovative sensor based on the Global Navigation Satellite Systems Reflectometry (GNSS-R) was on board the manned vehicle, the Light Airborne Reflectometer for GNSS-R Observations (LARGO) engineered by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. While the synergy between thermal, optical and passive microwave spectra observations is well known for vegetation parameters and soil moisture retrievals, the experiment aimed to evaluate the synergy of GNSS-R reflectivity with a time-collocated Landsat 8 imagery for soil moisture retrieval under semiarid climatic conditions. LARGO estimates, field measurements, and optical...

2015 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2015

The Dome-C region, in the East Antarctic Plateau, has been used for calibration/validation of sat... more The Dome-C region, in the East Antarctic Plateau, has been used for calibration/validation of satellite microwave radiometers since the 1970's. However, its use as an independent external target has been recently questioned due to some spatial inhomogeneities found in L-band airborne and satellite observations. This work evidences the influence of the Antarctic ice thickness spatial variations on the measured SMOS and Aquarius brightness temperatures (TB). The possible effects of subglacial water and bedrock on the acquired radiometric signals have also been analyzed. A 3-months no-daylight period during the Austral winter has been selected. Four transects over East Antarctica have been defined to study the spatial variations. A good agreement between SMOS and Aquarius TB changes and ice thickness variations over the whole Antarctica has been observed, obtaining linear correlations of 0.6-0.7 and slopes of 8.6-9.5 K/km. The subglacial lakes may affect the vertical physical temperature profile and/or the dielectric properties of the ice layers above. As expected, the subglacial bedrock is not contributing to the measured TB, since the maximum estimated L-band penetration depth is ∼1-1.5 km.

The first three of a series of new generation satellites operating at L-band microwave frequencie... more The first three of a series of new generation satellites operating at L-band microwave frequencies have been launch in the last decade. L-band is particularly sensitive to the presence of water content in the scene under observation, being considered the optimal bandwidth for measuring the Earth's global surface soil moisture (SM) over land and sea surface salinity (SSS) over oceans. Monitoring these two essential climate variables is needed to further improve our understanding of the Earth's water and energy cycles. Additionally, remote sensing at L-band has been proved useful for monitoring the stability in ice sheets and measuring sea ice thickness. The ESA's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS, 2009-2017) is the first mission specifically launched to monitor SM and SSS. It carries on-board a novel synthetic aperture radiometer with multi-angular and full-polarization capabilities. NASA's Aquarius (2011-2015) was the second mission, devoted to SSS monitoring wi...

2014 IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2014

ABSTRACT Surface Soil Moisture (SSM) affects the soil surface energy balance and thus affects the... more ABSTRACT Surface Soil Moisture (SSM) affects the soil surface energy balance and thus affects the Land Surface Temperature (LST), and viceversa. Currently, LST and SSM are remotely sensed using TIR sensors and L-band radiometers, respectively. The NASA's Terra/Aqua missions provide full coverage of LST measurements under clear sky condi-tions using MODIS. The ESA's SMOS mission is the first satellite providing frequent SSM and ocean salinity observations at global scale. In this paper, a sensitivity study about the relationship of the LST and SSM is performed using in-situ measurements from the REMEDHUS network and spaceborne observations from MODIS and SMOS. Results show that the correlation between SSM and LST (both in-situ and remotely sensed) is highest using the daily maximum LST. This could help improving SSM algorithms and de-riving new SSM products at higher resolution from the synergy of microwave and TIR observations. Index Terms— Land surface temperature, surface soil moisture, passive microwave remote sensing, L-band radiometer, TIR sensors, REMEDHUS network, MODIS, Terra/Aqua mission, SMOS missi-on.

2013 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium - IGARSS, 2013

ABSTRACT The spectral window at L-band (1.400 - 1.427 GHz) is reserved for passive microwave remo... more ABSTRACT The spectral window at L-band (1.400 - 1.427 GHz) is reserved for passive microwave remote sensing. This band is well-suited to retrieve soil moisture and ocean salinity due to emissivity of soil and seawater decreases with moisture and salinity, respectively, affecting microwave radiation of the Earth’s surface. Nowadays, there are two space missions devoted to Earth observation with L-band radiometers on-board: the SMOS mission from the ESA and the Aquarius/SAC-D mission from the NASA and CONAE. Both missions are providing the first TB measurements of the Earth’s surface at 1.413 GHz. Thus, it is a great opportunity to compare SMOS and Aquarius TBs and verify the continuity and consistency of the data. This inter-comparison is a key requirement needed to use data of both radiometers for meteorological, hydrological and climatological studies on a long term.

Passive microwave remote sensing at L-band is considered to be the most suitable technique to mea... more Passive microwave remote sensing at L-band is considered to be the most suitable technique to measure soil moisture and ocean salinity. These two variables are needed as inputs of predictive models, to improve climate and weather forecast, and to increase our knowledge of the water cycle. Nowadays, there are two space missions providing frequent and global observations of moisture and salinity of the Earth's surface with L-band radiometers on-board. The first one is the ESA's SMOS satellite, launched on November 2, 2009, which carries a two-dimensional, multi-angular, and full-polarimetric synthetic aperture radiometer. The second one is the NASA/CONAE's Aquarius/SAC-D mission, launched on June 10, 2011, which includes three beam push-broom real aperture radiometers. The objective of this work is to compare SMOS and Aquarius brightness temperatures and verify the continuity and consistency of the data over the entire dynamic range of observations. This is paramount if data from both radiometers are used for any long term enviromental, meteorological, hydrological, or climatological studies. The intercomparison approach proposed is based on the study of 1 year of measurements over key target regions selected as representative of land, ice, and sea surfaces. The level of linearity, the correlation, and the differences between the observations of the two radiometers are analyzed. Results show a higher linear correlation between SMOS and Aquarius brightness temperatures over land than over sea. A seasonal effect and spatial inhomogeneities are observed over ice, at the Dome-C region. In all targets, better agreement is found in horizontal than in vertical polarization. Also, the correlation is higher at higher incidence angles. These differences indicate that there is a non-linear effect between the two instruments, not only a bias. Index Terms-Aquarius/Satélite de Aplicaciones Científicas (SAC)-D mission, brightness temperature, inter-comparison, L-band radiometer, passive microwave remote sensing, Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission.

Remote Sensing, 2012

This work summarizes the activities carried out by the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) Ba... more This work summarizes the activities carried out by the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) Barcelona Expert Center (SMOS-BEC) team in conjunction with the CIALE/Universidad de Salamanca team, within the framework of the European Space Agency (ESA) CALIMAS project in preparation for the SMOS mission and during its first year of operation. Under these activities several studies were performed, ranging from Level 1 (calibration and image reconstruction) to Level 4 (land pixel disaggregation techniques, by means of data fusion with higher resolution data from optical/infrared sensors). Validation of SMOS salinity products by means of surface drifters developed ad-hoc, and soil moisture products over the REMEDHUS site (Zamora, Spain) are also presented. Results of other preparatory activities carried out to improve the performance of eventual SMOS follow-on missions are presented, including GNSS-R to infer the sea state correction needed for improved ocean salinity retrievals and land surface parameters. Results from CALIMAS show a satisfactory performance of the MIRAS instrument, the accuracy and efficiency of the algorithms implemented in the ground data processors, and explore the limits of spatial resolution of soil moisture products using data fusion, as well as the feasibility of GNSS-R techniques for sea state determination and soil moisture monitoring.

Scientia Marina, 2012

Capability for sea surface salinity observation was an important gap in ocean remote sensing in t... more Capability for sea surface salinity observation was an important gap in ocean remote sensing in the last few decades of the 20 th century. New technological developments during the 1990s at the European Space Agency led to the proposal of SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity), an Earth explorer opportunity mission based on the use of a microwave interferometric radiometer, MIRAS (Microwave Imaging Radiometer with Aperture Synthesis). SMOS, the first satellite ever addressing the observation of ocean salinity from space, was successfully launched in November 2009. The determination of salinity from the MIRAS radiometric measurements at 1.4 GHz is a complex procedure that requires high performance from the instrument and accurate modelling of several physical processes that impact on the microwave emission of the ocean's surface. This paper introduces SMOS in the ocean remote sensing context, and summarizes the MIRAS principles of operation and the SMOS salinity retrieval approach. It describes the Spanish SMOS high-level data processing centre (CP34) and the SMOS Barcelona Expert Centre on Radiometric Calibration and Ocean Salinity (SMOS-BEC), and presents a preliminary validation of global sea surface salinity maps operationally produced by CP34.

Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 2015

ABSTRACT The Dome-C region, in the East Antarctic Plateau, is regarded as an ideal natural labora... more ABSTRACT The Dome-C region, in the East Antarctic Plateau, is regarded as an ideal natural laboratory for calibration/validation of space-borne microwave radiometers. At L-band, the thermal stability of this region has been confirmed by several experimental campaigns. However, its use as an independent external calibration target has recently been questioned due to some spatial inhomogeneities and seasonal effects revealed in the brightness temperatures (TB) acquired in this area.This paper shows the observed relationship, from exploratory research, between the Antarctic ice thickness spatial variations and the measured Aquarius TB changes. A three-months no-daylight period during the Austral winter has been analyzed. Four transects have been defined over East Antarctica covering areas with different ice thickness variations and ranges. The theoretical L-band penetration depth has been estimated to understand the possible contributions to the measured signal.A good agreement has been observed between Aquarius TB and ice thickness variations over the whole Antarctica, with correlations of ∼0.6–0.7. The two variables show a linear trend with slopes of ∼8.3–9.5 K/km. No correlation has been observed with the subglacial bedrock. The maximum L-band penetration depth has been estimated to be ∼1–1.5 km. Results are therefore consistent: the spatial variations found on Aquarius TB are not related to the emissivity of the bedrock, which lies deeper. This study provides evidence that new L-band satellite observations could contribute to further our understanding of Antarctic geophysical processes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 2015

Active and passive microwave observations over land are affected by surface characteristics in di... more Active and passive microwave observations over land are affected by surface characteristics in different ways. L-band radar backscatter and radiometer measurements each have distinct advantages and problematic issues when applied to surface soil moisture estimation. Spaceborne radiometry has the advantage of better sensitivity to the geophysical parameter but suffers from coarse spatial resolution given limitations on antenna dimensions. Active sensing has the advantage of higher spatial resolution, but the measurements are, relative to radiometry, more affected by the confounding influences of scattering by vegetation and rough surfaces. Active and passive measurements can potentially span different scales and allow the combining of the relative advantages of the two sensing approaches. This strategy is being implemented in the NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, which relies on the relationship between active and passive measurements to provide 9-km surface soil moisture estimates. The aim of this paper is to study the sensitivity of spaceborne L-band active and passive temporal covariations to land surface characteristics, in preparation for SMAP. A significant linear relationship (with slope β) is obtained between NASA's Aquarius scatterometer and radiometer observations across major global biomes. The error in β estimation is found to increase with land cover heterogeneity and to be unaffected by vegetation density (up to moderate densities). Results show that β estimated with two to eight months of Aquarius measurements (depending on vegetation seasonality) reflect local vegetation cover conditions under surfaces with complex mixture of vegetation, surface roughness, and dielectric constant.

ABSTRACT The spectral window at L-band (1.400 - 1.427 GHz) is reserved for passive microwave remo... more ABSTRACT The spectral window at L-band (1.400 - 1.427 GHz) is reserved for passive microwave remote sensing. This band is well-suited to retrieve soil moisture and ocean salinity due to emissivity of soil and seawater decreases with moisture and salinity, respectively, affecting microwave radiation of the Earth’s surface. Nowadays, there are two space missions devoted to Earth observation with L-band radiometers on-board: the SMOS mission from the ESA and the Aquarius/SAC-D mission from the NASA and CONAE. Both missions are providing the first TB measurements of the Earth’s surface at 1.413 GHz. Thus, it is a great opportunity to compare SMOS and Aquarius TBs and verify the continuity and consistency of the data. This inter-comparison is a key requirement needed to use data of both radiometers for meteorological, hydrological and climatological studies on a long term.

ABSTRACT Surface Soil Moisture (SSM) affects the soil surface energy balance and thus affects the... more ABSTRACT Surface Soil Moisture (SSM) affects the soil surface energy balance and thus affects the Land Surface Temperature (LST), and viceversa. Currently, LST and SSMare remotely sensed using TIR sensors and L-band radiometers, respectively. The NASA’s Terra/Aqua missions provide full coverage of LST measurements under clear sky conditions using MODIS. The ESA’s SMOS mission is the first satellite providing frequent SSM and ocean salinity observations at global scale. In this paper, a sensitivity study about the relationship of the LST and SSM is performed using in-situ measurements from the REMEDHUS network and spaceborne observations from MODIS and SMOS. Results show that the correlation between SSM and LST (both in-situ and remotely sensed) is highest using the daily maximum LST. This could help improving SSM algorithms and deriving new SSM products at higher resolution from the synergy of microwave and TIR observations.

Passive microwave remote sensing at L-band is considered to be the most suitable technique to mea... more Passive microwave remote sensing at L-band is considered to be the most suitable technique to measure soil moisture and ocean salinity. These two variables are needed as inputs of predictive models, to improve climate and weather forecast, and to increase our knowledge of the water cycle. Nowadays, there are two space missions providing frequent and global observations of moisture and salinity of the Earth's surface with L-band radiometers on-board. The first one is the ESA's SMOS satellite, launched on November 2, 2009, which carries a two-dimensional, multi-angular, and full-polarimetric synthetic aperture radiometer. The second one is the NASA/CONAE's Aquarius/SAC-D mission, launched on June 10, 2011, which includes three beam push-broom real aperture radiometers. The objective of this work is to compare SMOS and Aquarius brightness temperatures and verify the continuity and consistency of the data over the entire dynamic range of observations. This is paramount if data from both radiometers are used for any long term enviromental, meteorological, hydrological, or climatological studies. The intercomparison approach proposed is based on the study of 1 year of measurements over key target regions selected as representative of land, ice, and sea surfaces. The level of linearity, the correlation, and the differences between the observations of the two radiometers are analyzed. Results show a higher linear correlation between SMOS and Aquarius brightness temperatures over land than over sea. A seasonal effect and spatial inhomogeneities are observed over ice, at the Dome-C region. In all targets, better agreement is found in horizontal than in vertical polarization. Also, the correlation is higher at higher incidence angles. These differences indicate that there is a non-linear effect between the two instruments, not only a bias.

2010 Ieee International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2010

The performance requirements of the SMOS payload are demanding in terms of spatial resolution, ac... more The performance requirements of the SMOS payload are demanding in terms of spatial resolution, accuracy, stability and precision, all critical to fulfill its scientific objectives. For this reason a commissioning plan for MIRAS was carefully devised to verify, calibrate and characterize all instrument parameters which could have an impact on its performance. This presentation describes the most important results from the instrument commissioning phase.

2015 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2015

New remote sensing techniques based on the analysis of the Earth's surface-reflected signal f... more New remote sensing techniques based on the analysis of the Earth's surface-reflected signal from the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS-Reflectometry, or GNSS-R in short) are emerging. Soil moisture and vegetation status are some of the potential parameters that could be also retrieved from these sources. However, the complex interactions between the soil-vegetation interface can lead to spurious effects on the reflected signal. In order to study these effects, an airborne campaign was developed in an experimental area in Spain in August, 2014. A new GNSS-R-based instrument was flown together with thermal and optical cameras mounted on a paramotor. Ground measurements of soil moisture were taken during the flight. Maps at very high spatial resolution of reflectivity, Land Surface Temperature (LST) and the Digital Surface Model (DSM) were jointly analyzed, together with the ground observations. The results showed an important influence of the topography (i.e., the local incidence angle) on the GNSS-R reflectivity, and promising patterns relating reflectivity with soil moisture and LST were found. However, owing the dry soil and weather conditions during the experiment, further tests are needed over different environment and climatic conditions.

2015 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2015

The Light Airborne Reflectometer for GNSS-R Observations (LARGO) is an airborne instrument design... more The Light Airborne Reflectometer for GNSS-R Observations (LARGO) is an airborne instrument designed for measuring the coherent reflectivity from different soils. In this work, an improved version of LARGO has been used in a field campaign together with other conventional remote sensing instruments. All the corrections made to the raw coherent reflectivity including the antenna pattern compensation, and a topographic correction are presented. The correlation between corrected coherent reflectivity and in situ soil moisture was not high enough due to the dry conditions of the field campaign.

ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, 2015

An airborne campaign was performed during August, 2014 in an agricultural area in the Duero basin... more An airborne campaign was performed during August, 2014 in an agricultural area in the Duero basin (Spain) in order to appraise the synergy between very different sources of Earth Observation imagery, and very different instruments for soil moisture retrieval. During the flight, an intensive field campaign comprising soil, plant and spectral measurements was carried out. An innovative sensor based on the Global Navigation Satellite Systems Reflectometry (GNSS-R) was on board the manned vehicle, the Light Airborne Reflectometer for GNSS-R Observations (LARGO) engineered by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. While the synergy between thermal, optical and passive microwave spectra observations is well known for vegetation parameters and soil moisture retrievals, the experiment aimed to evaluate the synergy of GNSS-R reflectivity with a time-collocated Landsat 8 imagery for soil moisture retrieval under semiarid climatic conditions. LARGO estimates, field measurements, and optical...

2015 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2015

The Dome-C region, in the East Antarctic Plateau, has been used for calibration/validation of sat... more The Dome-C region, in the East Antarctic Plateau, has been used for calibration/validation of satellite microwave radiometers since the 1970's. However, its use as an independent external target has been recently questioned due to some spatial inhomogeneities found in L-band airborne and satellite observations. This work evidences the influence of the Antarctic ice thickness spatial variations on the measured SMOS and Aquarius brightness temperatures (TB). The possible effects of subglacial water and bedrock on the acquired radiometric signals have also been analyzed. A 3-months no-daylight period during the Austral winter has been selected. Four transects over East Antarctica have been defined to study the spatial variations. A good agreement between SMOS and Aquarius TB changes and ice thickness variations over the whole Antarctica has been observed, obtaining linear correlations of 0.6-0.7 and slopes of 8.6-9.5 K/km. The subglacial lakes may affect the vertical physical temperature profile and/or the dielectric properties of the ice layers above. As expected, the subglacial bedrock is not contributing to the measured TB, since the maximum estimated L-band penetration depth is ∼1-1.5 km.

The first three of a series of new generation satellites operating at L-band microwave frequencie... more The first three of a series of new generation satellites operating at L-band microwave frequencies have been launch in the last decade. L-band is particularly sensitive to the presence of water content in the scene under observation, being considered the optimal bandwidth for measuring the Earth's global surface soil moisture (SM) over land and sea surface salinity (SSS) over oceans. Monitoring these two essential climate variables is needed to further improve our understanding of the Earth's water and energy cycles. Additionally, remote sensing at L-band has been proved useful for monitoring the stability in ice sheets and measuring sea ice thickness. The ESA's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS, 2009-2017) is the first mission specifically launched to monitor SM and SSS. It carries on-board a novel synthetic aperture radiometer with multi-angular and full-polarization capabilities. NASA's Aquarius (2011-2015) was the second mission, devoted to SSS monitoring wi...

2014 IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2014

ABSTRACT Surface Soil Moisture (SSM) affects the soil surface energy balance and thus affects the... more ABSTRACT Surface Soil Moisture (SSM) affects the soil surface energy balance and thus affects the Land Surface Temperature (LST), and viceversa. Currently, LST and SSM are remotely sensed using TIR sensors and L-band radiometers, respectively. The NASA's Terra/Aqua missions provide full coverage of LST measurements under clear sky condi-tions using MODIS. The ESA's SMOS mission is the first satellite providing frequent SSM and ocean salinity observations at global scale. In this paper, a sensitivity study about the relationship of the LST and SSM is performed using in-situ measurements from the REMEDHUS network and spaceborne observations from MODIS and SMOS. Results show that the correlation between SSM and LST (both in-situ and remotely sensed) is highest using the daily maximum LST. This could help improving SSM algorithms and de-riving new SSM products at higher resolution from the synergy of microwave and TIR observations. Index Terms— Land surface temperature, surface soil moisture, passive microwave remote sensing, L-band radiometer, TIR sensors, REMEDHUS network, MODIS, Terra/Aqua mission, SMOS missi-on.

2013 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium - IGARSS, 2013

ABSTRACT The spectral window at L-band (1.400 - 1.427 GHz) is reserved for passive microwave remo... more ABSTRACT The spectral window at L-band (1.400 - 1.427 GHz) is reserved for passive microwave remote sensing. This band is well-suited to retrieve soil moisture and ocean salinity due to emissivity of soil and seawater decreases with moisture and salinity, respectively, affecting microwave radiation of the Earth’s surface. Nowadays, there are two space missions devoted to Earth observation with L-band radiometers on-board: the SMOS mission from the ESA and the Aquarius/SAC-D mission from the NASA and CONAE. Both missions are providing the first TB measurements of the Earth’s surface at 1.413 GHz. Thus, it is a great opportunity to compare SMOS and Aquarius TBs and verify the continuity and consistency of the data. This inter-comparison is a key requirement needed to use data of both radiometers for meteorological, hydrological and climatological studies on a long term.

Passive microwave remote sensing at L-band is considered to be the most suitable technique to mea... more Passive microwave remote sensing at L-band is considered to be the most suitable technique to measure soil moisture and ocean salinity. These two variables are needed as inputs of predictive models, to improve climate and weather forecast, and to increase our knowledge of the water cycle. Nowadays, there are two space missions providing frequent and global observations of moisture and salinity of the Earth's surface with L-band radiometers on-board. The first one is the ESA's SMOS satellite, launched on November 2, 2009, which carries a two-dimensional, multi-angular, and full-polarimetric synthetic aperture radiometer. The second one is the NASA/CONAE's Aquarius/SAC-D mission, launched on June 10, 2011, which includes three beam push-broom real aperture radiometers. The objective of this work is to compare SMOS and Aquarius brightness temperatures and verify the continuity and consistency of the data over the entire dynamic range of observations. This is paramount if data from both radiometers are used for any long term enviromental, meteorological, hydrological, or climatological studies. The intercomparison approach proposed is based on the study of 1 year of measurements over key target regions selected as representative of land, ice, and sea surfaces. The level of linearity, the correlation, and the differences between the observations of the two radiometers are analyzed. Results show a higher linear correlation between SMOS and Aquarius brightness temperatures over land than over sea. A seasonal effect and spatial inhomogeneities are observed over ice, at the Dome-C region. In all targets, better agreement is found in horizontal than in vertical polarization. Also, the correlation is higher at higher incidence angles. These differences indicate that there is a non-linear effect between the two instruments, not only a bias. Index Terms-Aquarius/Satélite de Aplicaciones Científicas (SAC)-D mission, brightness temperature, inter-comparison, L-band radiometer, passive microwave remote sensing, Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission.

Remote Sensing, 2012

This work summarizes the activities carried out by the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) Ba... more This work summarizes the activities carried out by the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) Barcelona Expert Center (SMOS-BEC) team in conjunction with the CIALE/Universidad de Salamanca team, within the framework of the European Space Agency (ESA) CALIMAS project in preparation for the SMOS mission and during its first year of operation. Under these activities several studies were performed, ranging from Level 1 (calibration and image reconstruction) to Level 4 (land pixel disaggregation techniques, by means of data fusion with higher resolution data from optical/infrared sensors). Validation of SMOS salinity products by means of surface drifters developed ad-hoc, and soil moisture products over the REMEDHUS site (Zamora, Spain) are also presented. Results of other preparatory activities carried out to improve the performance of eventual SMOS follow-on missions are presented, including GNSS-R to infer the sea state correction needed for improved ocean salinity retrievals and land surface parameters. Results from CALIMAS show a satisfactory performance of the MIRAS instrument, the accuracy and efficiency of the algorithms implemented in the ground data processors, and explore the limits of spatial resolution of soil moisture products using data fusion, as well as the feasibility of GNSS-R techniques for sea state determination and soil moisture monitoring.

Scientia Marina, 2012

Capability for sea surface salinity observation was an important gap in ocean remote sensing in t... more Capability for sea surface salinity observation was an important gap in ocean remote sensing in the last few decades of the 20 th century. New technological developments during the 1990s at the European Space Agency led to the proposal of SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity), an Earth explorer opportunity mission based on the use of a microwave interferometric radiometer, MIRAS (Microwave Imaging Radiometer with Aperture Synthesis). SMOS, the first satellite ever addressing the observation of ocean salinity from space, was successfully launched in November 2009. The determination of salinity from the MIRAS radiometric measurements at 1.4 GHz is a complex procedure that requires high performance from the instrument and accurate modelling of several physical processes that impact on the microwave emission of the ocean's surface. This paper introduces SMOS in the ocean remote sensing context, and summarizes the MIRAS principles of operation and the SMOS salinity retrieval approach. It describes the Spanish SMOS high-level data processing centre (CP34) and the SMOS Barcelona Expert Centre on Radiometric Calibration and Ocean Salinity (SMOS-BEC), and presents a preliminary validation of global sea surface salinity maps operationally produced by CP34.

Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 2015

ABSTRACT The Dome-C region, in the East Antarctic Plateau, is regarded as an ideal natural labora... more ABSTRACT The Dome-C region, in the East Antarctic Plateau, is regarded as an ideal natural laboratory for calibration/validation of space-borne microwave radiometers. At L-band, the thermal stability of this region has been confirmed by several experimental campaigns. However, its use as an independent external calibration target has recently been questioned due to some spatial inhomogeneities and seasonal effects revealed in the brightness temperatures (TB) acquired in this area.This paper shows the observed relationship, from exploratory research, between the Antarctic ice thickness spatial variations and the measured Aquarius TB changes. A three-months no-daylight period during the Austral winter has been analyzed. Four transects have been defined over East Antarctica covering areas with different ice thickness variations and ranges. The theoretical L-band penetration depth has been estimated to understand the possible contributions to the measured signal.A good agreement has been observed between Aquarius TB and ice thickness variations over the whole Antarctica, with correlations of ∼0.6–0.7. The two variables show a linear trend with slopes of ∼8.3–9.5 K/km. No correlation has been observed with the subglacial bedrock. The maximum L-band penetration depth has been estimated to be ∼1–1.5 km. Results are therefore consistent: the spatial variations found on Aquarius TB are not related to the emissivity of the bedrock, which lies deeper. This study provides evidence that new L-band satellite observations could contribute to further our understanding of Antarctic geophysical processes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 2015

Active and passive microwave observations over land are affected by surface characteristics in di... more Active and passive microwave observations over land are affected by surface characteristics in different ways. L-band radar backscatter and radiometer measurements each have distinct advantages and problematic issues when applied to surface soil moisture estimation. Spaceborne radiometry has the advantage of better sensitivity to the geophysical parameter but suffers from coarse spatial resolution given limitations on antenna dimensions. Active sensing has the advantage of higher spatial resolution, but the measurements are, relative to radiometry, more affected by the confounding influences of scattering by vegetation and rough surfaces. Active and passive measurements can potentially span different scales and allow the combining of the relative advantages of the two sensing approaches. This strategy is being implemented in the NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, which relies on the relationship between active and passive measurements to provide 9-km surface soil moisture estimates. The aim of this paper is to study the sensitivity of spaceborne L-band active and passive temporal covariations to land surface characteristics, in preparation for SMAP. A significant linear relationship (with slope β) is obtained between NASA's Aquarius scatterometer and radiometer observations across major global biomes. The error in β estimation is found to increase with land cover heterogeneity and to be unaffected by vegetation density (up to moderate densities). Results show that β estimated with two to eight months of Aquarius measurements (depending on vegetation seasonality) reflect local vegetation cover conditions under surfaces with complex mixture of vegetation, surface roughness, and dielectric constant.

ABSTRACT The spectral window at L-band (1.400 - 1.427 GHz) is reserved for passive microwave remo... more ABSTRACT The spectral window at L-band (1.400 - 1.427 GHz) is reserved for passive microwave remote sensing. This band is well-suited to retrieve soil moisture and ocean salinity due to emissivity of soil and seawater decreases with moisture and salinity, respectively, affecting microwave radiation of the Earth’s surface. Nowadays, there are two space missions devoted to Earth observation with L-band radiometers on-board: the SMOS mission from the ESA and the Aquarius/SAC-D mission from the NASA and CONAE. Both missions are providing the first TB measurements of the Earth’s surface at 1.413 GHz. Thus, it is a great opportunity to compare SMOS and Aquarius TBs and verify the continuity and consistency of the data. This inter-comparison is a key requirement needed to use data of both radiometers for meteorological, hydrological and climatological studies on a long term.

ABSTRACT Surface Soil Moisture (SSM) affects the soil surface energy balance and thus affects the... more ABSTRACT Surface Soil Moisture (SSM) affects the soil surface energy balance and thus affects the Land Surface Temperature (LST), and viceversa. Currently, LST and SSMare remotely sensed using TIR sensors and L-band radiometers, respectively. The NASA’s Terra/Aqua missions provide full coverage of LST measurements under clear sky conditions using MODIS. The ESA’s SMOS mission is the first satellite providing frequent SSM and ocean salinity observations at global scale. In this paper, a sensitivity study about the relationship of the LST and SSM is performed using in-situ measurements from the REMEDHUS network and spaceborne observations from MODIS and SMOS. Results show that the correlation between SSM and LST (both in-situ and remotely sensed) is highest using the daily maximum LST. This could help improving SSM algorithms and deriving new SSM products at higher resolution from the synergy of microwave and TIR observations.

Passive microwave remote sensing at L-band is considered to be the most suitable technique to mea... more Passive microwave remote sensing at L-band is considered to be the most suitable technique to measure soil moisture and ocean salinity. These two variables are needed as inputs of predictive models, to improve climate and weather forecast, and to increase our knowledge of the water cycle. Nowadays, there are two space missions providing frequent and global observations of moisture and salinity of the Earth's surface with L-band radiometers on-board. The first one is the ESA's SMOS satellite, launched on November 2, 2009, which carries a two-dimensional, multi-angular, and full-polarimetric synthetic aperture radiometer. The second one is the NASA/CONAE's Aquarius/SAC-D mission, launched on June 10, 2011, which includes three beam push-broom real aperture radiometers. The objective of this work is to compare SMOS and Aquarius brightness temperatures and verify the continuity and consistency of the data over the entire dynamic range of observations. This is paramount if data from both radiometers are used for any long term enviromental, meteorological, hydrological, or climatological studies. The intercomparison approach proposed is based on the study of 1 year of measurements over key target regions selected as representative of land, ice, and sea surfaces. The level of linearity, the correlation, and the differences between the observations of the two radiometers are analyzed. Results show a higher linear correlation between SMOS and Aquarius brightness temperatures over land than over sea. A seasonal effect and spatial inhomogeneities are observed over ice, at the Dome-C region. In all targets, better agreement is found in horizontal than in vertical polarization. Also, the correlation is higher at higher incidence angles. These differences indicate that there is a non-linear effect between the two instruments, not only a bias.

2010 Ieee International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2010

The performance requirements of the SMOS payload are demanding in terms of spatial resolution, ac... more The performance requirements of the SMOS payload are demanding in terms of spatial resolution, accuracy, stability and precision, all critical to fulfill its scientific objectives. For this reason a commissioning plan for MIRAS was carefully devised to verify, calibrate and characterize all instrument parameters which could have an impact on its performance. This presentation describes the most important results from the instrument commissioning phase.