ESA - SMOS - Archive

ESA title

The mission

ESA’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission is dedicated to making global observations of soil moisture over land and salinity over oceans. By consistently mapping these two important components in the water cycle, SMOS is advancing our understanding of the exchange processes between Earth’s surface and atmosphere and is helping to improve weather and climate models.

The launch

Date: 2 November 2009
Site: Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia
Launcher: Rockot

758 km mean altitude
69 antenna receivers
10+ years in orbit

SMOS

Five years of soil moisture, ocean salinity and beyond

03/11/2014 8855 views 57 likes

Thin sea ice

Versatility extends life of water mission

18/07/2014 2605 views 43 likes

Crop yield

Water mission boosts food security

21/05/2014 4682 views 52 likes

What lies beneath?

09/01/2014 5733 views 58 likes

Triple storm

SMOS sees triple superstorms

22/10/2013 6707 views 52 likes

Soil moisture analysis

Water mission versatility

12/09/2013 2304 views 26 likes

SMOS tracks Hurricane Igor

ESA’s Earth satellites are stars

21/06/2013 6530 views 34 likes

SMOS maps record soil water before flood

07/06/2013 7583 views 41 likes

Taking two bites at ocean salinity

22/04/2013 3409 views 17 likes

Flooded forest, Czech Republic

Water mission extends its talents to carbon

22/03/2013 2297 views 15 likes

SMOS: the global success story continues

22/02/2013 8788 views 31 likes

Hurricane Sandy from SMOS

Super storm tracked by ESA water mission

09/11/2012 2266 views 7 likes

ESA satellites looking deeper into sea ice

05/10/2012 3449 views 0 likes

SMOS vs Argo

SMOS has a better look at salinity

01/10/2012 2788 views 3 likes

SMOS vs Argo

SMOS has a better look at salinity

01/10/2012 1233 views 1 likes

Sea surface salinity

SMOS satellite measurements improve as ground radars switch…

03/07/2012 3473 views 3 likes

Over 30 years of global soil moisture observations for clim…

19/06/2012 13581 views 7 likes

Europe soil moisture decrease

Europe’s dry soils seen from space

30/05/2012 3609 views 0 likes

SMOS water mission turns hurricane hunter

10/02/2012 2627 views 1 likes

Laptev Sea ice thickness from SMOS

SMOS versatility offers sea ice mapping

20/12/2011 2710 views 2 likes

Frozen soil

SMOS detects freezing soil as winter takes grip

14/12/2011 2274 views 2 likes

Soil moisture, November 2010 and 2011

SMOS maps Europe’s dry autumn soils

07/12/2011 3888 views 3 likes

Calibration tower, Antarctica

Antarctic ice sheet assures SMOS accuracy

02/12/2011 1388 views 2 likes

Envisat image of the Arctic

Arctic ice nears record low

14/09/2011 2355 views 1 likes

Certificate of Achievement for SMOS team

Enabling & Support

Accolade for water mission technology

22/08/2011 1047 views 0 likes

Horn of Africa drought seen from space

22/07/2011 1915 views 1 likes

SMOS gains clearer view as illegal transmitters shut down

14/06/2011 1780 views 4 likes

Comparison of soil moisture in 2010 and 2011

ESA's water mission keeps tabs on dry spring soils

12/05/2011 1164 views 1 likes

Fòrum Marítim Català

World race yields salinity data for ESA's SMOS mission

18/02/2011 1227 views 0 likes

Satellite data to improve flood forecasting

26/01/2011 3105 views 4 likes

Mean dynamic topography of global ocean

ESA missions highlighted at world's largest scientific conf…

17/12/2010 1857 views 1 likes

SMOS in orbit

ESA's SMOS water mission celebrates first year in orbit

02/11/2010 2292 views 0 likes

Spain almost free of radio interference

SMOS water mission winning battle with interference

06/10/2010 3775 views 2 likes

Water mission reveals insight into Amazon plume

03/09/2010 2017 views 0 likes

SMOS shines at symposium

30/06/2010 1596 views 0 likes

SMOS in orbit

ESA's SMOS water mission goes live

21/05/2010 2047 views 0 likes

Dry soil

New global network validates SMOS soil moisture data

14/05/2010 2635 views 1 likes

Fibre optics

Enabling & Support

ESA missions extend fibre optics to orbit

28/04/2010 3321 views 5 likes

Taking in soil moisture measurements

Australian field campaign validates SMOS data

09/03/2010 1222 views 1 likes

Brightness temperature

First images from ESA’s water mission

23/02/2010 2443 views 0 likes

SMOS completes early orbit phase

04/12/2009 691 views 0 likes

Skipper Liz Wardley sets sail

Sailors braving treacherous waters for science

01/12/2009 1119 views 0 likes

First data from SMOS

First SMOS data received

20/11/2009 1789 views 3 likes

SMOS satellite instrument comes alive

19/11/2009 3584 views 4 likes

SMOS

SMOS forms three-pointed star in the sky

03/11/2009 2224 views 1 likes

SMOS and Proba-2 liftoff

Two new ESA satellites successfully lofted into orbit

02/11/2009 3407 views 2 likes

SMOS and Proba-2 ready for launch

30/10/2009 1031 views 0 likes

SMOS Proba-2 launch tower

Watch the SMOS and Proba-2 launch live

30/10/2009 1040 views 0 likes

Watch on Euronews: Studying the seas

30/10/2009 391 views 0 likes

SMOS Proba-2 upper composite in launch tower

Follow the launch of ESA's SMOS and Proba-2 satellites

28/10/2009 1038 views 0 likes

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