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SMAP Radar Processing and CalibrationThe Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission is part of the NASA space-based Earth observation program, and consists of an L-band radar and radiometer scheduled for launch into sun synchronous orbit in late 2014. A joint effort of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the SMAP mission draws heavily on the design and risk reduction heritage of the Hydrosphere State (Hydros) mission [1], [2]. The SMAP science and applications objectives are to: 1) understand processes that link the terrestrial water, energy and carbon cycles, 2) estimate global water and energy fluxes at the land surface, 3) quantify net carbon flux in boreal landscapes, 4) enhance weather and climate forecast skill, and 5) develop improved flood prediction and drought monitoring capability. To meet these science objectives, SMAP ground processing will combine the attributes of the radar and radiometer observations (in terms of their spatial resolution and sensitivity to soil moisture, surface roughness, and vegetation) to estimate soil moisture with 4% volumetric accuracy at a resolution of 10 km, and freeze-thaw state at a resolution of 1-3 km. Model sensitivities translate the soil moisture accuracy to a radar backscatter accuracy of 1 dB (1 sigma) at 3 km resolution and a brightness temperature accuracy of 1.3 K at 40 km resolution. This paper will describe the level 1 radar processing and calibration challenges and the choices made so far for the algorithms and software implementation.
Document ID
20150007761
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Conference Paper
External Source(s)
Authors
West, R.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Jaruwatanadilok, S.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Kwoun, O.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Chaubell, M.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
May 8, 2015
Publication Date
July 21, 2013
Subject Category
Earth Resources And Remote Sensing
Meeting Information
Meeting: IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS 2013)
Location: Melbourne
Country: Australia
Start Date: July 21, 2013
End Date: July 26, 2013
Sponsors: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR),
radar
Soil-Moisture Active/Passive (SMAP)

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