Satellite Altimetry
The range R from satellite to mean sea level is estimated by
Past Missions
Current Missions
Radar Measurement principles
Normalized radar Cross Section
Ocean Surface Reflectivity
Atmospheric Attenuation Clear Sky Transmittance at normal incidence angle
Cloud Attenuation
Rain Attenuation
Two-Way Travel Time Pulse-Limited
Average Returned Waveform
Fig 16: Average of 1, 25, and 1000 Simulated Independent time series of illuminated area
Instrument Corrections Doppler Shift Altimeter Acceleration Error Oscillator Drift Error Pointing angle and sea-state correction
Foot Print Size
Range Estimation 1cm accuracy from satellite altimetry by measuring two-way travel time is a big challenge due to the reasons: Atmospheric Effects: Dry Tropospheric Refraction Wet Tropospheric Refraction Ionospheric Refraction Sea-State Effects: Electromagnetic Bias Skewness Bias
TECU estimated from Dual-freq measurements
Orbit Determination