Surface measurements in tropical cyclones (TCs) are difficult to obtain and only microwave sensors below 15 Ghz can penetrate the deep convective clouds surrounding the areas where surface winds are the largest (Quilfen et al., 2007). These kind of measurements are crucial to complement the Dvorak TC intensity analysis as obtained from infrared/visible measurements (Velden and Coauthors, 2006)....

After GLAS (Geo-science Laser Altimeter System) loaded on the ICESat (Ice Cloud and land Elevation Satellite), satellite laser altimeter attracts more and more attention. ZY3-02 equipped with the Chinese first satellite laser altimeter has been successfully launched on 30 May, 2016. The geometric calibration is an important step for the laser data processing and application. The method to calcu...

Satellite altimetry provides a precise measure of the vertical distance of the satellite borne altimeter to the instantaneous sea surface. The accuracy of this distance depends on the calibration of the altimeter, the quality of the reflecting target and the proper estimate of path delay. The general design characteristics for absolute altimeter calibration imply a large number of measurements ...

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...

Though the ERS satellites are today out of service, the huge quantity of altimetric data collected during the so-called “geodetic missions” covers the globe with sufficient density for many mapping projects. This paper first describes the general principle of ERS altimetric measurement . Then, the paper shows the method adopted to take advantage of ERS high-energy measurements (specular), which...

Incorporating new altimeter data from CryoSat-2 (30 months), Envisat (18 months), and Jason-1 (7 months) satellites into an updated marine gravity field yields significant reduction in noise and improved resolution. Compared to an older gravity field that did not include the new altimeter data, incoherent power is reduced globally by approximately 2.9 dB at 15 km, 1.6 dB at 20 km, and 1.0 dB at...

The Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) in its 8 day repeat orbit mode provided data not only on the along-track surface slope, but also on the cross-track surface slope from adjacent repeat ground tracks. During the first 36 days of operation, four to five such repeat orbits occurred within 1 km in the cross-track direction. This provided an opportunity to use ICESat data to measu...

D I R E C T measurement of large-scale ocean currents with current meter arrays is difficult and costly on basin scales. Since large-scale currents are very nearly in geostrophic balance, their velocity can be calculated from the pressure gradient on an equigeopotential surface. The surface geostrophic current therefore can be calculated from the deviation of sea level from the equigeopotential...