Convective systems are responsible for energy transfers between the lower and upper atmospheric layers and play a fundamental role in the water cycle, weather and climate evolution. With a tandem of high resolution and wide swath all-sky atmospheric sounders, the C2OMODO concept allows the estimation of vertical dynamics within deep convective systems.

This paper reports on the main results of SMOS-HR instrument technical study, a new interferometric radiometer dedicated to Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity measurement from space. The instrument aims at providing enhanced spatial resolution with respect to SMOS and integrating robust RFI (RF Interference) mitigation technique. The instrument key performance requirements and the architecture features and trade-offs are exposed in this paper.

Convective systems are responsible for energy transfers between the lower and upper atmospheric layers and play a fundamental role in the water cycle, weather and climate evolution. With a tandem of high resolution and wide swath all-sky atmospheric sounders, the C2OMODO concept allows the estimation of vertical dynamics within deep convective systems.

In the continuity of the existing SAPHIR microwave radiometer on-board Megha-Tropiques, in operation since 2011, a new generation atmospheric sounder is currently under study. SAPHIR-NG is designed to provide enhanced observations of clear sky water vapor and profiles of hydrometeors. The scientific objectives and requirements, as well as the instrumental implementation are described.

SAPHIR-NG is a new generation atmospheric sounder concept based on the existing SAPHIR instrument, onboard Megha-Tropiques, which has been operating since 2011. Its improvements with respect to SAPHIR are presented hereafter, both in terms of scientific objectives and instrumental architecture.

The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite is performing systematic L-band observations since 2009, allowing a large number of science and operational applications. Several recent studies have shown the need of the continuity of L-band observations, in particular with an increased angular resolution. In this contribution, two instrumental concepts are presented to reach native resolutions of 5–10 km. In addition, using airborne data, it is also shown that the accuracy of downscaling coarser resolution L-band data to 5–10 km using a high resolution auxiliary data set, is significantly lower than that of native high resolution observations.

The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite has provided, for the very first time, systematic passive L-band (1420−1427 MHz) measurements from space with a spatial resolution of ~50 Km. This contribution presents preliminary results of studies conducted for a High Resolution (HR) follow-on mission. The SMOS-HR project is currently undergoing a Phase 0 study by the French space agency. The goal is to ensure continuity of L-band measurements while increasing the spatial resolution to ~10 Km without degrading the radiometric sensitivity and keeping the revisit time of 3 days unchanged.

This paper summarizes a study done by the EADS ASTRIUM and founded by the CNES (French spatial agency) in the field of the innovative focal planes for sub-millimetre wave radiometers. The objectives are to improve performance of space sub-millimetre wave instruments for two main applications: atmospheric chemistry study and ice clouds and precipitations observations. The areas for improvement are focused on global instrument architecture and on some specific focal plane components such as dichroïc filters and mixers.