LOSAC – L-band Ocean Salinity Airborne Campaign

An L-band (1.4 GHz) radiometer system, based on novel interferometric techniques, and known under the acronym SMOS (soil moisture & ocean salinity), has been selected as one of ESAÆs Earth Explorer Opportunity Missions. Measuring the L-band brightness temperature over the oceans enables a determination of sea salinity. However, the knowledge about the influence of wind on the brightness temperature has been identified as insufficient. The LOSAC project aims at filling this void by designing and implementing a suitable L-band radiometer and antenna system, integrate it with a C-130 aircraft of the Danish Air Force, and carry out airborne campaigns over the North Sea and Northern Atlantic in order to experimentally determine the radiometric response of the ocean to wind direction relative to the observing direction.