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Smos
Launched on 2 November 2009, the SMOS mission is designed to map soil moisture and ocean salinity. Such data provide precious insight for meteorologists, hydrologists and climatologists. Monitoring ocean salinity enables them to detect the currents that strongly influence weather and climate patterns, and to better understand the role of oceans in the carbon cycle, while measuring soil moisture tells us about interactions between Earth’s surface, vegetation and the atmosphere, thereby increasing the accuracy of weather forecasts. Soil moisture data also allow us to better assess flood and drought risks, helping to manage water resources more efficiently. The SMOS satellite acquires all of these data with a radiometer that measures microwave radiation emitted from Earth’s surface at a frequency that is highly sensitive to water content.
SMOS is the second Mission of Opportunity of the European Space Agency’s Earth Explorer programme. It is being led by ESA, CNES and CDTI, the Spanish government agency with responsibility for space. CNES supplied the spacecraft bus and is in charge of data collection by the satellite. The agency also developed and is operating the SMOS satellite control centre at its Toulouse Space Centre. The SMOS data centre (CATDS) at Plouzané, France, was also developed by CNES and the mission’s Principal Investigator (PI) is Dr Yann Kerr, a CNES research scientist.
Mission's news feed
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Forest degradation primary driver of carbon loss in the Brazilian Amazon
Forest degradation, to be distinguished from deforestation, has become the largest process driving carbon loss in the Brazilian Amazon, according to a recent study using ESA...
June 10, 2021
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Arctic sea ice succumbs to Atlantification
With alarm bells ringing about the rapid demise of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, satellite data have revealed how the intrusion of warmer Atlantic waters is reducing ice regrowth...
May 21, 2021
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Water mission takes on space weather
SMOS’ list of talents is getting longer. New findings show that what was considered noise in the mission’s data can actually be used to monitor solar activity and space weather,...
March 24, 2021