The EUROSTARRS experiment over land surfaces (SMOS Mission): first results

This paper describes the ESA-funded airborne EUROSTARRS experiment over land. A multiangle L-band radiometer was flown over a large variety of landscapes in France and Spain during the autumn of 2001. The data analysis will be performed in the framework of an ESA project to assess the feasibility of retrieving soil moisture by a future spaceborne Earth observation mission.