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First images from airborne version of SMOS

7 December 2006

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AMIRAS deployed at the Institute for Food and Agricultural Research and Technology (Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries) (IRTA) in the delta of the Ebro river, Catalonia, Spain. The instrument is pointed towards the culmination direction of Deneb (Cgnus-alpha).

Credits: IEEC (Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia)

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From an altitude of 763 km, the SMOS antenna will view an area almost 3000 km in diameter. Because of the Y-shaped antenna and the interferometry measurement principle, the field-of-view is limited to a hexagon-like shape about 1000 km across.

Credits: ESA - AOES Medialab

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AMIRAS installed on the HUT Skyvan. It is tilted about 24° away from nadir in a similar configuration to that of SMOS.

Credits: HUT (Helsinki University of Technology)

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Milky Way as acquired by AMIRAS in horizontal polarisation during the IRTA campaign. The galactic plane goes roughly through Altair (Aquilae), Deneb (Cygni) and Cassiopea (M31).

Credits: UPC (Polytechnic University of Catalonia)

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Sun image during the IRTA campaign. The real Sun is the one with the label. The other two Suns are aliases of the real one, as expected.

Credits: UPC (Polytechnic University of Catalonia)

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Brightness temperature in the alias-free field-of-view during the AMIRAS maiden flight over Pensaari island in the Lohja lake west of Helsinki. The coastal lines appear sharp in the images and the brightness contrast between water and land is as expected.

Credits: UPC (Polytechnic University of Catalonia)

First images from Finnish radiometer support SMOS Last batch of LICEF receivers delivered for SMOS Airborne version of SMOS instrument takes shape Preparing for data from SMOS Dedicated SMOS campaign activities down under

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