Preface to special section: Remote Sensing of the earth's environment by microwave radiometers and radar

The Specialist Meeting on Microwave Remote Sensing 2001 (MRS'01) was held in Boulder, Colorado, on 5–9 November 2001. This meeting combined the 8th International Union of Radio Science (URSI) Commission F Symposium on Microwave Remote Sensing of the Earth, Oceans, Ice, and Atmosphere and the 7th Specialist Meeting on Microwave Radiometry. Meetings of both of these groups have been conducted on a regular basis since the late 1970s. Papers presented during the 2001 meeting illustrated state-of-the-art international remote sensing techniques and applications using microwave radar and radiometry from spaceborne, airborne, and surface-based platforms. The keynote talk, entitled “Airborne vectorized microwave imaging of the Earth,” was given by Dr. Albin Gasiewski of the NOAA/Environmental Technology Laboratory. Oral and interactive sessions were held on the following topics: radar and radiometric polarimetry (including imaging); radar and radiometric calibration; advanced instrument techniques; satellite remote sensing of the atmosphere, land surface, and vegetation; ground-based remote sensing of the atmosphere and ocean; radiometric/radar modeling of scattering, emission, and radiative transfer; and special campaigns and field experiments. In addition to Commission F of URSI, sponsors of the meeting included: the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Roughly 150 participants from 20 countries attended, and 153 papers (108 oral and 45 interactive) were presented. The 41 manuscripts accepted for publication in these two consecutive volumes of Radio Science (parts 1 and 2) represent a cross section of work presented at MRS'01, and it is hoped that these papers, in addition to being a valuable summary for conference attendees, will be of interest to the entire radio science community.