Sea Surface Topography/ Operational Satellite Altimetry

Work package leader :Per Knudsen,
Kort og Matrikelstyrelsen,
LG/GEK,
Rentemestervej 8,
DK-2400 København NV
Denmark

email Per Knudsen, pk@kms.dk
URL http://research.kms.dk/~pk/

Work package description:

Satellite radar altimetry has already shown its great potential in oceanographic research on large scale phenomena. With new technological development and new satellite missions coming up, the application of satellite radar altimetry on smaller scales (such as the North Sea basin) seems very promising.
This work package focuses on the use of altimetry for the determination of sea surface topography on regional scales. Satellite altimetry in principle allows the integration between tide gauge stations across continental shelf seas (e.g. the North Sea) and along the European coastline. The combination of data from different satellite missions is one of the major tasks to be done in view of analysing sea surface topography.

The initial concept for this work package was developed after discussion at the second management meeting (Delft, April 9-10, 1997). The following topics were agreed for investigation and development:

The use of existing tide gauges to tie together altimetry and ground truth data
Time variable effects in sea surface topography
Development of improved high resolution geoid models
The inverse barometer problem in shallow seas, and ocean areas
Instrumental correction and EM bias

The activities under this work package are closely allied to other projects and world wide activities, in particular those carried out under GLOSS. The combination of altimetry with tide gauge data is expected to provide real benefits. The main challenges identified for this work package were:

The consistency of data from different altimetry missions, particularly in terms of the corrections and calibrations applied.
The relationship between measurements from space, and those recorded by tide gauges

There is already a special working group investigating correction models for TOPEX/POSEIDON, and work on the inverse barometer problem is ongoing (for example, at Delft and at POL). Developments in describing the geoid are also underway elsewhere, so this work package will follow the work of the other groups, and investigate applying their results when appropriate to EOSS.

At the EOSS workshop, held at Olbia, Sardinia, in October 1999, discussions resulted in the focus of this workpackage being reviewed.

Work package contributors:

Ole Andersen oa@kms.dk	Wolfgang Bosch bosch@dgfi.badw.de
Alexander Braun braun@gfz-potsdam.de	Remko Scharroo remko.scharroo@lr.tudelft.nl
Roland Klees klees@geo.tudelft.nl	Philip Woodworth plw@pol.ac.uk
Manuel Catalán manuel.catalan@uca.es	Juan José Martínex Benjamín benjamin@etseccpb.upc.es benjamin@fa.upc.es

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