Happy 15th birthday SMOS !!!

 

On November 2nd 2024,  SMOS celebrated its 15th anniversary! Launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome SMOS for a three+two year mission, SMOS is still operational and has far surpassed our expectations. The 15th anniversary is thus offering a good opportunity to reflect on SMOS’ contributions to science.

Launched as part of ESA‘s Earth Explorer program, with significant contributions from CNES and Spain’s CDTI, SMOS was initially designed to study three critical components of the water cycle: soil moisture, vegetation water content and ocean salinity. Using a microwave interferometer with 69 elementary antennae operating at 1.4 GHz, SMOS achieves the resolution of an 8 meters diameter antenna, making it the only satellite-based L-band interferometer.

Over the years, SMOS’ role has expanded well beyond its original objectives. The satellite has become essential for various applications such as monitoring above ground biomass, measuring surface winds below cyclones, or even measuring thin sea ice thickness. Here’s a quick overview of 15 mission’s key achievements:

 

The list is far from exhaustive. Congratulations to all the teams who have worked, directly or indirectly, with SMOS data !

For a comprehensive list of scientific publications related to SMOS, everything is on this page.