Modelling SMOS brightness temperature by use of coupled SVAT and radiative transfer models over the Valencia Anchor Station

Soil moisture is a key variable that controls water and heat energy interactions occurring at the land atmosphere interface. This parameter, very important for the weather and climate modelling, is not well monitored at a global scale. A number of experiments have shown the high potential of L-band microwave radiometry for monitoring surface soil moisture. In this context, the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) mission was designed to observe soil moisture over continental surfaces as well as ocean salinity. Due to be launched in summer 2009, it will provide global soil moisture maps every 3 days at least, with an average spatial resolution of 40 km x 40 km.