Polarimetric remote sensing of land and snow/ice covers with the Spaceborne Microwave Radiometer WindSat

Abstract

Microwave remote sensing, polarimetry, radiometer, WindSat, passive. - Measurements from spaceborne microwave radiometers, such as the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR), the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) and the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR), are found to be useful in estimating various earth surface geophysical quantities, e.g. soil moisture and vegetation characteristics over land, snow water equivalent for snow covers and sea ice concentration. All these instruments have measured only the vertical and horizontal polarization component of the brightness temperature (Tb ). WindSat is the first spaceborne radiometer to provide fully polarimetric measurements of the earthÃ