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The initial tandem phase of the Jason-2 mission is important for the calibration of the entire altimetric system, not just the records of sea surface height. However, as well as allowing a bulk comparison of metocean parameters such as wave height and backscatter strength (used to infer wind speed), it affords a more detailed opportunity to understand the artefacts within each instrument. The w...

The normalized backscatter from a radar altimeter, σ, is a measure of the surface roughness at scales of a few radar wavelengths; over the ocean this is used to infer wind speed. Long-term studies of wind speed rely on consistent measurements within an altimetric mission and good intercalibration between missions. For the Jason-1 and Jason-2 altimeters the derivation of σ from the full waveform...

A radar altimeter's normalized backscatter, σ, is used in many oceanographic applications, to infer values of wind speed, wind stress, rain rate and the presence of biogenic slicks. The waveform retracker used to estimate the key geophysical variables for the altimeters on the Jason-1 and Jason-2 satellites shows increased small-scale variability since the problem is ill-conditioned. A simple e...