Smap Radar Processing And Results From Calibration And Validation

The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission launched on Jan 31, 2015. The mission employs L-band radar and radiometer measurements to estimate soil moisture with 4\% volumetric accuracy at a resolution of 10 km, and freeze-thaw state at a resolution of 1-3 km [1]. Immediately following launch, there was a three month instrument checkout period, followed by six months of level 1 (L1) calibration and validation. A beta release of L1 radar data was available on July 1, 2015 and a validated release was made available starting on November 1, 2015. Work continued on L1 radar calibration and validation for several more months to improve the quality of the final product due to be released with the L2 validated release. In this presentation, we will discuss the radar processing algorithms and the calibration and validation activities for the L1 radar data.