Measurements and Applications
Objective is to meassure sea surface salinity and soil moisture in support of climate, meteorology, hydrology, and oceanography applications. New applications include Soil freeze/thaw, ocean severe winds, sea ice thickness, vegetation optical depth and solar flux.
Full Name
Microwave Imaging Radiometer using Aperture Synthesis (MIRAS)
Status
Operational
Instrument Agencies
Maturity
Instrument Type
Imaging multi-spectral radiometers (passive microwave) 
and Multiple direction/polarisation radiometers
Geometry
Side-looking
Instrument Technology
Multi-purpose imaging MW radiometer
Sampling
Imaging
Data Access
Open Access
Data Format
Resolution
33 - 50 km depending on the position in the swath - resampled to 15 km grid
[Best Resolution: 5000m]
Swath
Hexagon shape, nominal width 1050 km allowing a 3 day revisit time at the equator
Accuracy
2.6 K absolute accuracy, RMS 1.6-4 K depending on the scene and the position within the swath
| MW (~0.1 cm - ~100 cm) |
| L-Band (2 - 1 GHz) |
SMOS - Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (Earth Explorer Opportunity Mission) (2009 - 2025) |