About this workshop

Passive microwave observations at L-band (1.4 GHz) have been a massive success in providing unique information about the Earth system since the launch of the ESA SMOS (Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity), NASA Aquarius, and NASA SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive) missions in 2009, 2011, and 2015, respectively. The science derived from these missions has furthered the understanding of geophysical processes in hydrology, oceanography, cryosphere, ecology, and atmosphere. The spatial resolution of these missions ranged from about 40 km to about 100 km. In the future, the L-band radiometer measurements will continue with the ESA CIMR (Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer) mission to be launched in the 2028 timeframe at about 60 km resolution. While this current generation of the L-band radiometer record provides an invaluable tool for exploring the Earth system, the spatial resolution is inadequate for addressing many critical science questions, evaluating and improving the next-generation global Earth system models, and maximizing the synergistic utility of L-band and higher-frequency (6-37 GHz) surface observations. Meanwhile, the state-of-the-art technology allows for the development of a next-generation mission that could make global daily L-band measurements at 10-km resolution, which will alleviate many of the abovementioned shortcomings.

This multidisciplinary workshop invites experts to discuss the scientific benefits and applications of 10-km L-band radiometer observations, their synergistic use with higher frequency observations (6-37 GHz), and associated mission requirements. The discussion includes ocean science enabled by sea surface salinity retrievals; cryospheric science enabled by sea ice thickness, snow liquid water content, land freeze/thaw, and soil temperature retrievals; hydrological and meteorological science enabled by soil moisture retrievals; and ecological science enabled by vegetation optical depth retrievals. The workshop is arranged with invited presentations on each topic and breakout sessions to facilitate discussion on the priorities and requirements for each area. The workshop will produce a summary report that helps the community move forward to define the parameters for a next-generation L-band radiometry mission and to advance research and applications by the interdisciplinary community.

Please contact Andreas Colliander if you have questions about the workshop.

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Agenda

DAY 1 - OCTOBER 10, 2023

Setting the Stage (Chair: Andreas Colliander)
8:00	Registration
8:30	Welcome and Introductions	Andreas Colliander
8:50	Meeting Objectives	Andreas Colliander
9:15	Current State of L-band Radiometry	Dara Entekhabi
9:35	Outlook of L-band Radiometry	Andreas Colliander
9:50	ESA User Consultation Study on the Need of L-band Radiometry	Matthias Drusch (remote)
10:10	BREAK
10:25	Feasibility of 10-km Resolution L-band radiometry	Andreas Colliander
10:45	Discussion
Cryosphere: Sea Ice (Chair: Ted Maksym)
11:00	On Sea Ice and Its Importance in the Climate System and Processes Observable with 10 km L-band Radiometry	Ted Maksym
11:30	Sea Ice Thickness Retrieval	Lars Kaleschke (remote)
11:45	LUNCH
Cryosphere: Ice Sheet Liquid Water (Chair: Joel Harper)
12:45	Overview of Science Problem, Value of Liquid Water Retrieval, and Treatment of Spatial Scales	Joel Harper
13:25	Ice Sheet LWC Retrieval (L-band and multi-freq.)	Andreas Colliander
13:40	Firn Aquifer Detection and Monitoring (L-band)	Julie Miller
13:55	Ice Sheet Temperature Retrieval	Giovanni Macelloni (remote)
Cryosphere: Land Surface and Freeze/Thaw (Chair: Alexandre Roy)
14:10	Importance of Vegetation Growth Processes and Methane Release to Earth System and Linkage of F/T Spatial Scales to the Processes	Alexandre Roy
14:50	BREAK
15:05	Retrieval of F/T with L-band Radiometry	Xiaolan Xu
15:25	Enhancement with C- to Ka-band Radiometry	John Kimball
Atmosphere: Convective Initiation (Chair: Steven Quiring)
15:40	Significance of Convective Processes in INCUS	Kristen Rasmussen
16:00	Soil Moisture-Precipitation Interactions in the Central United States	Trent Ford
16:20	Investigating Spatial Relationships Between Soil Moisture and Tornado Events using SMAP	Jana Houser
17:00	ADJOURN DAY 1

DAY 2 - OCTOBER 11, 2023

Oceanography (Chair: Severine Fournier/Tony Lee)
8:00	Preparation for day 2
8:30	Operational Implications of Higher Resolution Sea Surface Salinity (NOAA)	Eric Bayler (remote)
8:45	Sea Surface Salinity and Open Ocean Processes	Fred Bingham
9:00	Sea Surface Salinity and Coastal Processes	Doug Vandemark
9:15	Sea Surface Salinity and Polar Processes	Julian Schanze
9:30	Air/Sea Fluxes and Impact of Sea Surface Salinity at Small Scales	Lisan Yu
9:45	SSS Retrieval with 1.4 GHz and Wide-Band Measurements	Sidharth Misra
10:00	SSS Enhancement with C- to Ka-band Radiometer Measurements	Alex Akins
10:15	BREAK
Hydrology: Water and Energy Cycle (Chair: Dara Entekhabi/Wade Crow)
10:45	Soil Moisture and Land-Atmosphere Coupling with Higher Resolution Soil Moisture	Josh Roundy
11:00	Soil Moisture Heterogeneity and Triggering of Atmospheric Convection	Paul Dirmeyer (remote)
11:15	Global Estimates of L-band Vegetation Optical Depth and Soil Permittivity over Snow-covered Boreal Forests and Permafrost using SMAP Satellite	Ardeshir Ebtehaj
Hydrology: Land Surface Models (Chair: Wade Crow)
11:30	Issues and Challenges in Soil Moisture Data Assimilation	Sujay Kumar (remote)
11:45	NWP/Hydrologic Forecasting Implications	Stephane Belair (remote)
12:00	Issues In Soil Moisture Assimilation with LSM	Wade Crow
12:15	LUNCH
Hydrology: Soil Moisture Applications and Retrieval (Chair: Thomas Holmes)
13:30	Surface Soil Moisture and Plant Water Uptake	Andrew Feldman (remote)
13:45	SM Retrieval with L-band Radiometry	Rajat Bindlish
14:00	Multichannel PMW for soil moisture and Evapotranspiration	Thomas Holmes
Breakouts (Chair: Andreas Colliander)
14:15	Organize to Breakouts
14:30	BREAKOUT 1 (including break)
16:30	Breakout Summaries
17:15	ADJOURN DAY 2

DAY 3 - OCTOBER 12, 2023

Ecology (Chair: John Kimball)
8:00	Preparation for day 3
8:30	Importance of Biomass and Plant Hydrology to Earth System	Paul Siqueira
9:00	L-band VOD biomass Applications	Maria Piles (remote)
9:15	VOD Applications for Plant Hydrology	Alex Konings
9:30	Review of Measuring VOD Dynamics with L through X-band Radiometry	JP Wigneron (remote)
9:45	VOD Linkage to Biomass and Vegetation Water Content over Croplands	Brian Hornbuckle
Breakouts (Chair: Andreas Colliander)
10:00	BREAKOUT 2 (including break)
11:15	Breakout Summaries and Inputs to Science Traceability Matrices
12:00	Closing and Future Activities
12:30	ADJOURN DAY 3