A synthetic aperture microwave radiometer to measure soil moisture and ocean salinity from spaceA concept is presented for a microwave radiometer in space to measure soil moisture and ocean salinity as part of an 'Earth Probe' mission. The measurements could be made using an array of stick antennas. The L-band channel (1.4 GHz) would be the primary channel for determining soil moisture, with the S-band (2.65-GHz) and C-band (5.0-GHz) channels providing ancillary information to help correct for the effects of the vegetation canopy and possibly to estimate a moisture profile. A preliminary study indicates that an orbit at 450 km would provide coverage of better than 95 percent of the earth every 3 days. A 10-km resolution cell (at nadir) requires stick antennas about 9.5-m long at L-band. The S-band and C-band sticks would be substantially shorter (5 m and 2.7 m, respectively).
Document ID
19920052427
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Le Vine, D. M. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Hilliard, L. M. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Swift, C. T. (Massachusetts, University Amherst, United States)
Ruf, C. S. (JPL Pasadena, CA, United States)
Garrett, L. B. (NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 15, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1991
Subject Category
Spacecraft Instrumentation
Meeting Information
Meeting: IGARSS ''91: Annual International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium