Benefits of applying nodal sampling to SMOS data over semi-enclosed seas and strongly RFI-contaminated regions

Abstract

Radio Frequency Interferences (RFI) are still an important source of contamination in SMOS data. The application of nodal sampling (NS) to brightness temperature images helps to mitigate the degradation that RFIs produce in geophysical retrievals. Nodal sampling has been extensive and successfully tested over open ocean and in the proximity to coastal regions. In this work, we assess the performances of NS over strongly RFI-contaminated ocean regions, particularly over semi-enclosed seas. These regions are especially challenging because of the strong contamination caused by the nearby RFI sources over land and the residual land-sea contamination.