Fiducial Reference Measurements (FRMs) are a suite of independent, fully characterized, and traceable ground measurements that follow the guidelines outlined by the GEO/CEOS Quality Assurance framework for Earth Observation (QA4EO). These FRMs provide the maximum return-on investment (ROI) for a satellite mission by delivering, to users, the required confidence in data products, in the form of independent validation results and satellite measurement uncertainty estimation, over the entire end-to-end duration of a satellite mission. Within this context, the Sensor Performance, Products and Algorithms (SPPA) team manages a series of projects targeting the validation of ESA altimetry, atmosphere, land, and ocean products.

Fiducial Reference Measurements for Soil Moisture (FRM4SM) is a European Space Agency (ESA) managed project focused, on one hand, on defining procedures and protocols to qualify in situ soil moisture measurements as “FRMs” and, on the other hand, on addressing specific concerns intrinsic to the satellite soil moisture validation strategy (e.g., in situ measurement’s spatial representativeness, and the identification of committed areas for satellite soil moisture validation). The satellite component has, initially, a special emphasis on the ESA SMOS dataset and will be followed by further scatterometer-based (e.g., ASCAT), and SAR-based (e.g., Sentinel-1) soil moisture retrieval products.

The Quality Assurance for Soil Moisture (QA4SM) online validation service is developed as part of FRM4SM.

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