Sea surface emission at L-band using the IEM method

The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) Earth Explorer Opportunity Mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) aims to provide a global and precise soil moisture estimation over land and salinity content over oceans. In this paper we focus on ocean application of the SMOS mission. The brightness temperature of the sea surface with small or moderate roughness is computed with the IEM method, using an analytical n-dependent power-law spectrum that describes the sea-state conditions. Then, the accuracy of the brightness temperature computation with the number of terms of the n-power spectrum is determined. Furthermore, its variation with wind speed is also analyzed.