Absolute calibration

The principal objective is to use observations from tide gauges and other sensors directly on (or near) satellite ground tracks to calibrate the sea-surface height and ancillary measurements made by the satellite as it passes (nearly) overhead.

 

In situ dedicated sites and campaigns

Several dedicated sites are disseminated around the world. Moreover, some oceanographic campaigns have an altimetry validation goals.

Main in situ dedicated calval sites around the World (Credits Noveltis/Legos)

 

The latest results from the in situ sites shown at the OSTST 2011 in San Diego are synthesized in the following figure:

Absolute bias values for Jason 1 and Jason 2 from the different calibration sites. Red lines and associated numbers correspond to the average of all individual sites values. Orange arrows show the impact of using the Enhanced Path Delay for the wet tropospheric corrections (Brown et al., JPL)

Dedicated sites:

  • Bass Strait (Australia): see IMOS web page and C. Watson et al., oral presentation in pdf, OSTST 2011
  • Corsica (France): see web page , P. Bonnefond et al., oral presentation in pdf, and M. Cancet et al., poster in <link fileadmin documents ostst poster download>pdf, OSTST 2011
  • Gavdos (Greece): see S.P. Mertikas et al., presentation in pdf,  OSTST 2011
  • Harvest (USA): see B. Haines et al., oral presentation in pdf, OSTST 2011
  • Ibiza and L'Estartit (Spain): see J.J Benjamin-Martinez et al., poster in <link fileadmin documents ostst poster benjamin_martinez.pdf download>pdf, OSTST 2011

Dedicated campaigns:

  • Aramis
  • Drake, see S. Melachroinos et al., poster in <link fileadmin documents ostst poster melachroinos.pdf download>pdf, OSTST 2009. 

Further information:

  • OSTST 2011 meeting: <link internal-link>oral presentations in Local calibration/validation session, <link internal-link>posters in Global and in-situ calibration and validation.