Calibration and validation of the SMAP L-band radiometer

In this paper we discuss the steps taken for the calibration and validation of the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) L-band radiometer. We discuss the use of multiple vicarious sources such as the global ocean mean and celestial cold-sky emissions along with various spacecraft maneuvers to calibrate out gain, offset, antenna pattern of the radiometer. We present initial validation comparison of SMAP brightness temperatures with other L-band missions.