SMOS sea surface salinity prototype processor: Algorithm validation

The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission (launch scheduled for 2008) aims at obtaining global maps of soil moisture and sea surface salinity (SSS). It uses an L-band (1.4 GHz) microwave interferometric radiometer to obtain brightness temperatures (Tb) at the Earth surface at horizontal and vertical polarizations. They will be used to retrieve both geophysical variables, following specifically designed algorithms that will be applied when the satellite field-of-view is covering land or ocean surfaces respectively. The retrieval of salinity is a complex process that requires the knowledge of environmental information and an accurate processing of the radiometer measurements, because of the narrow range of ocean Tb and the strong impact on the measures of geophysical parameters (such as sea state). Here we present the baseline approach chosen to retrieve sea surface salinity from SMOS data, as developed and implemented by the joint team of scientists and engineers responsible for the SMOS Salinity Level 2 Prototype Processor. We present academic tests conducted over homogeneous scenes with the prototype. In these configurations, external perturbation sources (sky radiation, sun glint, ...) are not taken into account. Roughness is the main sea surface signal disturbing SSS retrieval.