Estimating Sea Surface Salinity and Wind Using Combined Passive and Active L-Band Microwave Observations

Several L-band microwave radiometer and radar missions have been, or will be, operating in space for land and ocean observations. These include the NASA Aquarius mission and the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, both of which use combined passive/active L-band instruments. Aquarius’s passive/active L-band microwave sensor has been designed to map the salinity field at the surface of the ocean from space. SMAP’s primary objectives are for soil moisture and freeze/thaw detection, but it will operate continuously over the ocean, and hence will have significant potential for ocean surface research.