Ayudas extraordinarias para la preparación de proyectos 2020. Esta ayuda está relacionada con el proyecto ESP2017-89463-C3-1-R.

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission can be considered a success story from many points of view. On the technological side, the instrument has proved to be very stable and robust, providing high-quality measurements, despite the processing complexity. On the scientific side, the SMOS data have exceeded all expectations. In particular, maps of the main mission variables (soil moisture and sea surface salinity) are currently served with higher accuracy and resolution than foreseen. Moreover, new emerging applications of high societal impact are currently being derived and exploited from SMOS data. In L-BAND, continuous, a good quality monitoring of the Arctic thin ice, which can only be provided by L-band radiometers like SMOS and the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, is ensured. Other emerging applications include the estimation of extreme winds, the detection and monitoring of serious threats for agriculture and forestry resources, and new research on the impact of the slow dynamics of ocean salinity on Earth climate. Moreover, the information content of L-band radiometers is being further exploited to ensure the successful exploitation of future missions. This CSIC-funded extension of the L-BAND project (L-BAND-EXT) aims at ensuring the R&D activities within L-BAND while awaiting for the approval of the follow-on project proposal submitted to the Spanish R&D National Plan call \"Retos Investigación\".