Altimetry has become the focus of global climate studies because it is the only tool available able to provide both mesoscale (100-500 kIn) and basin-scale (10,000 kIn) circulation information on a global, synoptic basis. . The Atlas-launched Navy Geosat mission proved the capability of the radar altimeter to measure the mesoscale ocean features. A lightsat compatible Geosat Follow-On Technolog...

A large global compilation of altimeter and scatterometer satellite crossover samples is used to address altimeter wind speed inversion. The emphasis here is altimeter wind error due to sea state impacts. Numerous past studies have suggested that long-scale gravity waves, which do not adjust to wind as quickly as the short gravity-capillary waves, have a measurable influence on interpretation o...

Sea surface height anomaly maps of realistic eddy activity were obtained by applying space-time optimum interpolation to altimeter data. Analysis error and rate of reconstructing eddy signals were investigated by taking account of: 1) dependency on orbit configurations of single and multiple altimeters; 2) dependency on space-time scales of realistic, dominant eddies; and 3) effect of space-tim...

Motivated by the recent interest in ocean energetics, the widespread use of horizontal eddy viscosity in models, and the promise of high horizontal resolution data from the planned wide-swath satellite altimeter, this paper explores the impacts of horizontal eddy viscosity and horizontal grid resolution on geostrophic turbulence, with a particular focus on spectral kinetic energy fluxes P(K) co...

Satellite altimeter data from 1993 to 2005 has been used to analyze the seasonal variation and the interannual variability of upper layer thickness (ULT) in the South China Sea (SCS). Base on in-situ measurements, the ULT is defined as the thickness from the sea surface to the depth of 16°C isotherm which is used to validate the result derived from satellite altimeter data. In comparison with a...

[1] A global comparison of altimeter and ERA-40 mean wave period data is performed for the first time. Altimeter and ERA-40 mean wave period are shown to compare well in non-swell-dominated conditions. Triply collocated altimeter, buoy, and ERA-40 data show that the variance of the random errors is bigger for the ERA-40 data and smaller for the buoy data. A new expression is given to relate alt...

In this paper we describe a procedure for generating building models from large scale vector maps and laser altimeter data. First the vector map is analyzed. The result is used to mask the elevation data of single buildings and to derive a coarse 3D-description by prismatic models. Afterwards roofs are reconstructed by fitting planar surfaces to obtain a polyhedral model.

The long-term sea level change during 1993 – 2008 is investigated in the Malaysian Seas from satellite altimetry data of the Topex, Jason-1, ERS-1, ERS-2 and Envisat missions. During the past two decades, satellite altimeter has provided its capability in measuring the global mean of sea level with precision better than 1 mm/year. Sea level data retrieval and reduction were carried out using Ra...

Climate studies require long data records extending the lifetime of a single remote sensing satellite mission. Precise satellite altimetry exploring global and regional evolution of the sea level has now completed a two decade data record. A consistent long-term data record has to be constructed from a sequence of different, partly overlapping altimeter systems which have to be carefully cross-...