SARAL/AltiKa Absolute Calibration from the Multi-Mission Corsica Facilities

Abstract

The geodetic Corsica site was set up in 1998 in order to perform altimeter calibration of the TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) mission and subsequently, Jason-1 and OSTM/Jason-2. The scope of the site was widened in 2005 in order to undertake the calibration of the Envisat mission and most recently of SARAL/AltiKa. Here we present the first results from the latter mission using both indirect and direct calibration/validation approaches. The indirect approach utilizes a coastal tide gauge and, as a consequence, the altimeter derived sea surface height (SSH) needs to be corrected for the geoid slope. The direct approach utilizes a novel GPS-based system deployed offshore under the satellite ground track that permits a direct comparison with the altimeter derived SSH. The advantages and disadvantages of both systems (GPS-based and tide gauges) and methods (direct or indirect) will be described and discussed. Our results for O/IGD-R data show a very good consistency for these three kinds of products: their derived absolute SSH biases are consistent within 17 mm and their associated standard deviation ranges from 31 to 35 mm. The AltiKa absolute SSH bias derived from GPS-zodiac measurement using the direct method is −54 ±10 mm based on the first 13 cycles.

Keywords:

• Altimeter calibration
• GPS
• tide gauges

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to C. Gaillemin who has performed the GPS sea level measurements (close to 150 deployments) at the Corsica site since more than 15 years.

Funding

This study has been conducted and financed thanks to CNES, CNRS, and Ministry of Research.