In the last ten years significant advances have been made in gravity field modelling, culminating in general-purpose models like JGM-3, TEG-3 and EGM96. Significant defects remain in the quality of the models when applied to orbit determination of some altimeter satellites, leading to large orbit errors, characterised by the geographically-correlated nature of the altimeter crossover height dif...

We review the procedures and challenges that must be considered when using geoid data derived from the Gravity and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) mission in order to constrain the circulation and water mass representation in an ocean general circulation model. It covers the combination of the geoid information with time-mean sea level information derived from satellite altimeter...

As part of the EU funded OMEGA project a cruise to the Eastern Alboran (Western Mediterranean) was carried out on board RRS Discovery during December 1996 and January 1997. During the cruise, a fine scale survey, designed to be oriented along ERS ground tracks, was repeated several times. Several additional survey legs were carried out, part of which lay along additional ERS or TOPEX/POSEIDON a...

The presence of rain in the sub-satellite track can significantly degrade altimeter measurements by causing an attenuation of the backscattered signal, a change in its path length through the atmosphere and a change in the mean square slope of the sea surface. This can cause errors, not only in the measurement of the satellite altitude, but also in the determination of wind speed and wave heigh...

All the satellite altimeters use pulse-limited-geometry and full-deramp technique to measure the power backscatter by the ocean surface as a function of time, i.e. the altimeter pulse echo waveform, see for example [1] for explanation on pulse limited altimeters). Assuming that the distribution of the sea surface roughness and elevation are homogeneous over the altimeter footprint, the backscat...

Purpose This paper aims to report the first iteration on Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) Engineering Model altimeter named HELENA. HELENA is a Time of Flight (TOF) that provides time-tagged distances velocity measurements. The LIDAR can be used for support near asteroid navigation scientific information. design comprises two types technologies: microchip laser low noise sensor. synergies be...