A Multitemporal Investigation of AMSR-E C-Band Radio-Frequency Interference

Radio-frequency interference (RFI) is increasingly a severe problem for present and future microwave satellite missions. RFI at C- and X-bands can contaminate remotely sensed measurements, as experienced with the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) and the WindSat sensor. In this work, the multitemporal Robust Satellite Techniques approach has been implemented on C-band AMSR-E data in order to identify areas systematically affected by different levels of RFI, trying to discriminate them from natural geophysical variability zones. To the scope, nine years of AMSR-E data have been investigated, allowing us also to better infer RFI impact on data acquired during ascending or descending passes, as well as in horizontal or vertical polarization. In detail, two analyses were carried out: one considering only measurements at C-band and another one taking into account a combination between C- and X-band measurements. The results of this study will be shown and discussed in this paper.