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The ESA Earth Explorer SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) mission will carry the first polar-orbiting 2-D interferometric radiometer (MIRAS-Microwave Imaging Radiometer using Aperture Synthesis) acquiring data of emitted microwave radiation at the frequency of 1.4 GHz (L-band).The SMOS mission products will provide different data types, each with its own characteristics. SMOS products are classified according to the different levels of processing and each product will contain specific data. The aim of this paper is to highlight the innovative satellite instrument and to present to the scientific user community the content of each product type.

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Abstract. The general interest in the potential use of the mm and sub-mm frequencies up to 425 GHz resolution from geostationary orbit is increasing due to the fact that the frequent time sampling and the comparable spatial resolution relative to the "classical" (≤89 GHz) microwave frequencies would allow the monitoring of precipitating intense events for the assimilation of rain in now-casting weather prediction models.In this paper, we use the simulation of a heavy precipitating event in front of the coast of Crete island (Greece) performed by the University of Wisconsin -Non-hydrostatic Modeling System (UW-NMS) cloud resolving model in conjunction with a 3D-adjusted plane parallel radiative transfer model to simulate the upwelling brightness temperatures (TB's) at mm and sub-mm frequencies. To study the potential use of high frequencies, we first analyze the relationships of the simulated TB's with the microphysical properties of the UW-NMS simulated precipitating clouds, and then explore the capability of a Bayesian algorithm for the retrieval of surface rain rate, rain and ice water paths at such frequencies.

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