Editing Special sensor microwave/imager (section)

== Products ==
Along with its predecessor SMMR, the SSM/I contributes to an archive of global passive microwave products from late 1978 to present.

Information within the SSM/I TBs measurements allow the retrieval of four important meteorological parameters over the ocean: near-surface wind speed (note [[scalar (physics)|scalar]] not [[vector (geometric)|vector]]), total columnar [[water vapor]], total columnar cloud liquid water ([[liquid water path]]) and precipitation. Accurate and quantitative measurement of these parameters from the SSM/I TBs is, however, a non-trivial task.  Variations within the meteorological parameters significantly modify the TBs.  As well as open ocean retrievals, it is also possible to retrieve quantitatively reliable information on [[sea ice]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Ahmad |first=Suraiya |title=SMMR & SSM/I Sea Ice Concentration Data |url=http://yang.gmu.edu/~yang/nasacd/www/ice.html |url-status=unfit |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050827195714/http://yang.gmu.edu/~yang/nasacd/www/ice.html |archivedate=August 27, 2005 }}</ref> land snow cover and over-land precipitation.