SMOS RF Interference Scenario: Status and Actions Taken to Improve the RFI Environment in the 1400-1427 MHz Passive Band

ESA’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission is perturbed with Radio Frequency Interferences (RFI) that jeopardize part of its scientific retrievals in some areas in the World, especially over continental areas in Europe, south Asia and the Middle East. Areas affected by RFIs might led to data loss or to underestimation of soil moisture and salinity retrievals, The SMOS team has put in place a few strategies that, one year after launch, have already improved the RFI situation in Europe where half of the sources have been switched off. Index Terms Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) Mission, Radio Frequency Interferences, L-Band radiometry, satellite remote sensing. Manuscript received Month April, 2011. The work was supported by: R.Oliva and S. Nieto are with the European Space Agency, ESA-ESAC, E-28691 Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain (e-mail: [email protected]). E.Daganzo-Eusebio is with the European Space Agency, ESA-ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, 2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands. S.Mecklenburg is with the European Space Agency, ESA-ESRIN, Via Galileo Galilei, Casella Postale 64, 00044 Frascati, Italy Y. Kerr, P. Richaume and C. Gruhier are with CESBIO (CNES/CNRS/UPS/IRD), 18, avenue Edouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France. REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR PAPER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER (DOUBLECLICK HERE TO EDIT) <