Hurricane Sandy brought havoc and shows how necessary it is for us to be able to monitor and forecast such extreme events. SMOS is for the first time offering this possibility as shown by N Reul and his team from IFREMER (http://www.salinityremotesensing.ifremer.fr/news/smoscapturedsurfacewindsunderthelargestatlantichurricaneonrecord)
Moreover, using measurement from an air craft the wind speed estimated below the hurricane were validated showing how efficient SMOS is:
Over land It is more a matter of looking at the soil moisture distribution and here again SMOS proves to be an invaluable tool!
More on this very soon