Reul, Nicolás, Grodsky, S.A., Arias, Manuel, Boutin, Jacqueline, Catany, Rafael, Chapron, Bertrand, D'Amico, Francesco, Dinnat, Emmanuel, Donlon, C.J., Fore, Alexander, Fournier, Séverine, Guimbard, Sébastien, Hasson, Audrey, Kolodziejczyk, Nicolas, Lagerloef, Gary, Lee, Tong, Le Vine, D.M., Lindstrom, E., Maes, C., Mecklenburg, S., Meissner, Thomas, Olmedo, Estrella, Sabia, Roberto, Tenerelli, Joseph, Thouvenin-Masson, C., Turiel, Antonio, Vergely, Jean-Luc, Vinogradova, N., Wentz, Frank, Yueh, Simon, Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science [College Park] (AOSC), University of Maryland [College Park], University of Maryland System-University of Maryland System, ARGANS Limited, Processus et interactions de fine échelle océanique (PROTEO), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Paris (UP)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Paris (UP)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Paris (UP)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU), GSFC Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Agence Spatiale Européenne (ESA), European Space Agency (ESA), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA-California Institute of Technology (CALTECH), OceanDataLab, Earth and Space Research Institute [Seattle] (ESR), NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA Headquarters, European Space Research Institute (ESRIN), Remote Sensing Systems [Santa Rosa] (RSS), Mediterranean Center for Marine and Environmental Research (CMIMA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [Madrid] (CSIC), Analytic and Computational Research, Inc. - Earth Sciences (ACRI-ST), CNES-TOSCA SMOS-Ocean, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité), Agence Spatiale Européenne = European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Agency, Centre National D'Etudes Spatiales (France), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (US), and Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España)
37 pages, 27 figures, 2 tables, 2 appendixes, Operated since the end of 2009, the European Space Agency (ESA) Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite mission is the first orbiting radiometer that collects regular and global observations from space of two Essential Climate Variables of the Global Climate Observing System: Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) and Soil Moisture. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Aquarius mission, with the primary objective to provide global SSS measurements from space operated from mid-2011 to mid-2015. NASA's Soil Moisture Active-Passive (SMAP) mission, primarily dedicated to soil moisture measurements, but also monitoring SSS, has been operating since early 2015. The primary sensors onboard these three missions are passive microwave radiometers operating at 1.4 GHz (L-band). SSS is retrieved from radiometer measurements of the sea surface brightness temperature (TB). In this paper, we first provide a historical review of SSS remote sensing with passive L-band radiometry beginning with the discussions of measurement principles, technology, sensing characteristics and complementarities of the three aforementioned missions. The assessment of satellite SSS products is then presented in terms of individual mission characteristics, common algorithms, and measurement uncertainties, including the validation versus in situ data, and, the consideration of sampling differences between satellite SSS and in situ salinity measurements. We next review the major scientific achievements of the combined first 10 years of satellite SSS data, including the insights enabled by these measurements regarding the linkages of SSS with the global water cycle, climate variability, and ocean biochemistry. We also highlight the new ability provided by satellites to monitor mesoscale and synoptic-scale SSS features and to advance our understanding of SSS' role in air-sea interactions, constraining ocean models, and improving seasonal predictions. An overview of satellite SSS observation highlights during this first decade and upcoming challenges are then presented, The EU authors acknowledge support of ESA in the frame of the SMOS ESL Level 2 phase 3 contract (https://smos.argans.co.uk/), the SMOS Pilot-Mission Exploitation Platform (Pi-MEP) project (https://www.salinity-pimep.org/), and the Climate Change Initiative (CCI) project (http://cci.esa.int/salinity). French authors thank the support of the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) in the frame of the Centre Aval de Traitement des Données SMOS (CATDS, http://www.catds.fr) and of CNES-TOSCA SMOS-Ocean projects. US authors thank the support of the NASA Ocean Surface Salinity Team (OSST). SMAP CAP SSS is produced at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Thomas Meissner and Frank Wentz acknowledge funding from NASA (contracts no. NNG04HZ29C, NNH15CM44C, 80HQTR18C0015, and JPL sub-contract 1602331), With the funding support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S), of the Spanish Research Agency (AEI)