Microwave radiometry and remote sensing applications. Preface

The 8th Specialist Meeting on Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing Applications (MicroRad04) was held on February 24-27, 2004 in Rome, Italy. The Meeting was an overwhelming success, much over any expectation. This exciting success can be summarized by few numbers such as 162 submitted abstracts, 152 participants, 85 oral presentations and 42 interactive posters along 4 full days of session works. The MicroRad04 was held at the Engineering College, situated in one of the most beautiful sites of the Eternal City, between the Colosseum, the archaeological area and the early Christian Basilicas. It is worth mentioning the courtyard of the College (see picture), enriched by a piece of art dating back to Renaissance architecture: the ancient well designed by S. Mosca. The Engineering College occupied the area of an ancient Monastery, S. Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains), situated on the gentle slopes of the Esquilino hill (one of the seven hills on which Rome was built). The Church of S. Pietro in Vincoli was built on the Empress Eudossia's buildings, to preserve St. Peter's chains. These can be found still nowadays in the Church, together with the large statue of Moses, sculpted by Michelangelo as part of the tomb of Pope Julius II. The MicroRad04 Meeting is the latest of a series focusing on Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing of the Environment. The very first one dates back to March 1983, when it was organized and supported by the University “La Sapienza” of Rome, Italy, as a result of the initiative of Prof. G. d’Auria. The satisfactory outcome of the first Meeting stimulated an agreement among the participants to ensure the continuity in the form of a periodical meeting opportunity, the second of which, supported by IROE-CNR in Florence, Italy, occurred in 1988. Since then, more regular meetings, every 30 months approximately, have been scheduled and held in the US and in Italy, alternately. In 2001 the Meeting was hosted by NOAA in Boulder, Colorado. The MicroRad04 Meeting was organized by the Department of Electronic Engineering of the University “La Sapienza” of Rome and was thought as an open invitation to convene again in Rome, after twenty years from the previous opportunity. The objective of MicroRad04 was to set up a common forum to report and discuss recent advances in the specific field of microwave radiometry, thus gathering all parties belonging to the research and industrial community, active in projects and studies in microwave radiometry of atmosphere, ocean and land.