Testing the use of single- and multi-mission satellite altimetry for the calibration of hydraulic models

• Comparison of available altimetry products for hydrodynamic model calibration. Investigation the potential multi-mission series calibrating hydraulic model. Impact single- and length (n° observations) on calibration reliability. Results show improvement satellite performances over time. Multi-mission outperform short original low-frequency altimetric products. Satellite is increasingly considered as a valuable source information in many hydrological applications. However, accuracy different sensors adopted monitoring water level from limited temporal resolution that characterizes each sensor (i.e. revisit time most varying 10 to 35 days; 369 days case CryoSat mission) still hamper their common use. Recently introduced (MM) densified might represent possible alternative ensure higher spatial coverage. Though, comparison products, including MM series, missing. This study attempts fill this gap investigating how perform stretch Po River (nearly 140 km across Northern Italy) quasi-2D built with detailed topographic information. Specifically, objectives are manifold: i) provide research community commonly used modelling (Envisat, Envisat extended mission, ERS-2, TOPEX/Poseidon, SARAL/AltiKa, Jason-2, Jason-3, Sentinel 3A, 3B CryoSat); ii) evaluate performance relative single-mission series; iii) investigate importance number observations (series length) mission. depict general time, moving oldest more recent missions, exception series. In general, 3A other both terms error measurements required achieve reliable errors larger than those obtained overall length, but they calibrations low sampling rate (i.e., Envisat, extended, SARAL/AltiKa) or cover very periods (e.g. 20–40 months length). The analysis offers additional insights into use applications, providing showing potential, well limitations, offered by