ESA's water mission - SMOS - has been providing L-band brightness temperature measurements since November 2009. The key geophysical parameters derived operationally are surface soil moisture and ocean salinity for hydrological and oceanographic applications, respectively. However, it is well known that a number of other research areas can benefit from L-band observations. The terrestrial carbon budget in boreal areas, for example, is poorly quantified at large spatial scales. L-band measurements from SMOS have the potential to provide estimates of the extent and timing of the soil's freeze/thaw state and to quantify its water content on regional to continental scales. Both parameters are key elements to determine terrestrial carbon sources and sinks. Other areas where SMOS may play a significant role are remote sensing of vegetation and sea ice. We encourage presentations on the exploitation of SMOS observations, which are not directly linked to soil moisture and ocean salinity. Potential areas of interest are:

(i) radiative transfer model developments to better describe frozen soils and cold regions, sea ice or vegetation properties,
(ii) validation and verification of SMOS products over boreal areas and cold regions,
(iii) data analysis over the Antarctic ice sheet,
(iv) algorithm developments for new Level 2/3 products, e.g. to support the detection and monitoring of the soils thaw / freeze cycle and / or permafrost,
(v) data fusion and harmonisation techniques for the generation of long term data sets, and
(vi) modelling of the terrestrial carbon budget at high latitudes using remotely sensed observations.