First Calibration Results for the SARAL/AltiKa Altimetric Mission Using the Gavdos Permanent Facilities

Mertikas, Stelios P.; Daskalakis, A.; Tziavos, I. N.; Vergos, Georgios S.; Fratzis, Xenofon; Tripolitsiotis, Achilles

doi:10.1080/01490419.2015.1030052

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…The same Cal/Val infrastructure has also been used for the calibration of the SARAL/AltiKa altimetric mission along its ascending Pass No. 571 [53] as well as for the Chinese mission HY-2A (descending Pass No. 280) [31].…”

Section: Sea-surface Calibration Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fifteen Years of Cal/Val Service to Reference Altimetry Missions: Calibration of Satellite Altimetry at the Permanent Facilities in Gavdos and Crete, Greece

et al. 2018

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Satellite altimetry provides exceptional means for absolute and undisputable monitoring of changes in sea level and inland waters (rivers and lakes), over regional to global scales, with accuracy and with respect to the center of mass of the Earth. Altimetry system’s responses have to be continuously monitored for their quality, biases, errors, drifts, etc. with calibration. Absolute calibration of altimeters is achieved by external and independent to satellite facilities on the ground. This is the mainstay for a continuous, homogenous, and reliable monitoring of the earth and its oceans. This paper describes the development of the Permanent Facility for Altimetry Calibration in Gavdos/Crete, Greece, as of 2001 along with its infrastructure and instrumentation. Calibration results are presented for the reference missions of Jason-1, Jason-2, and Jason-3. Then, this work continues with the determination of relative calibrations with respect to reference missions for Sentinel-3A, HY-2A, and SARAL/AltiKa. Calibration results are also given for Jason-2 and Jason-3 altimeters using the transponder at the CDN1 Cal/Val site on the mountains of Crete, with simultaneous comparisons against sea-surface calibration and during their tandem mission. Finally, the paper presents procedures for estimating uncertainties for altimeter calibration to meet the Fiducial Reference Measurement standards.

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Section: Sea-surface Calibration Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fifteen Years of Cal/Val Service to Reference Altimetry Missions: Calibration of Satellite Altimetry at the Permanent Facilities in Gavdos and Crete, Greece

et al. 2018

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“…[8], Kavaratti (Section 2.1.1), Corsica (Section 2.1.2, Lake Issykul (Section 2.1.3), the regional (Section 2.2) and global (Section 2.3) approaches. The mean value of all the determinations is −54 mm with a standard deviation of 15 mm.…”

Section: Quality Assessment Of Water Level Through Calibration and Vamentioning

confidence: 99%

The Benefits of the Ka-Band as Evidenced from the SARAL/AltiKa Altimetric Mission: Quality Assessment and Unique Characteristics of AltiKa Data

et al. 2018

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Abstract:The India-France SARAL/AltiKa mission is the first Ka-band altimetric mission dedicated to oceanography. The mission objectives are primarily the observation of the oceanic mesoscales but also include coastal oceanography, global and regional sea level monitoring, data assimilation, and operational oceanography. The mission ended its nominal phase after 3 years in orbit and began a new phase (drifting orbit) in July 2016. The objective of this paper is to provide a state of the art of the achievements of the SARAL/AltiKa mission in terms of quality assessment and unique characteristics of AltiKa data. It shows that the AltiKa data have similar accuracy at the centimeter level in term of absolute water level whatever the method (from local to global) and the type of water surfaces (ocean and lakes). It shows also that beyond the fact that AltiKa data quality meets the expectations and initial mission requirements, the unique characteristics of the altimeter and the Ka-band offer unique contributions in fields that were previously not fully foreseen.

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“…Since Jason-2 reprocessing (GDR-D products) instrumental errors discovered by the project (» 15.6 cm on the range, see Bonnefond et al 2012 for details) have been applied leading to remove the SSH bias that is now close to 0 as assessed by OSTST (2013). Concerning the SARAL/AltiKa SSH bias, the origin is not currently known but other studies found similar values (¡5 cm) either from in situ (Babu et al 2015;Bonnefond et al 2015;Mertikas et al 2015) or global comparisons with Jason-2 (Prandi et al 2015;Desai and Haines 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

The 2013 Ibiza Calibration Campaign of Jason-2 and SARAL Altimeters

et al. 2015

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International audienceThis study presents the results of the 2013 Ibiza (Western Mediterranean) calibration campaign of Jason-2 and SARAL altimeters. It took place from 14 to 16 September 2013 and comprised two phases: the calibration of the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) buoys to estimate the antenna height of each of them and the absolute calibration to estimate the altimeter bias (i.e., the difference of sea level measured by radar altimetry and GNSS). The first one was achieved in the Ibiza harbor at a close vicinity of the Ibiza tide gauge and the second one was performed at ∼ 40 km at the northwest of Ibiza Island at a crossover point of Jason-2 and SARAL nominal groundtracks. Five buoys were used to delineate the crossover region and their measurements interpolated at the exact location of each overflight. The overflights occurred two consecutive days: 15 and 16 September 2013 for Jason-2 and SARAL, respectively. The GNSS data were processed using precise point positioning technique. The biases found are of (−0.1 ± 0.9) and (−3.1 ± 1.5) cm for Jason-2 and SARAL, respectively

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First Calibration Results for the SARAL/AltiKa Altimetric Mission Using the Gavdos Permanent Facilities

Cited by 8 publications

References 18 publications

Fifteen Years of Cal/Val Service to Reference Altimetry Missions: Calibration of Satellite Altimetry at the Permanent Facilities in Gavdos and Crete, Greece

Fifteen Years of Cal/Val Service to Reference Altimetry Missions: Calibration of Satellite Altimetry at the Permanent Facilities in Gavdos and Crete, Greece

The Benefits of the Ka-Band as Evidenced from the SARAL/AltiKa Altimetric Mission: Quality Assessment and Unique Characteristics of AltiKa Data

The 2013 Ibiza Calibration Campaign of Jason-2 and SARAL Altimeters

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