Thanks to the good quality of the HaiYang-2B measurements, the integration of the mission in the operational system DUACS has been made on July 7th 2020 bringing to 6 the number of altimeter missions processed in Near-Real-Time in the system, which is unprecedented!

Good performances of HaiYang-2B mission

The HaiYang-2B (HY2B) mission has been launched on October 25th, 2018. It is a marine remote sensing satellite developed by the China's National Satellite Ocean Application Service (NSOAS). The objective of the mission is to monitor the dynamic ocean environment. HY2B carries a classic LRM altimeter on the same 14-day repeat orbit as HaiYang-2A currently used in the DUACS Delayed Time system.

As detailed in (Labroue et al, OSTST 2019) and in the routine statistics available on the dedicated DUACS page there is a good agreement of HY2B measurements with other altimeters and particularly a lower noise level for HY2B compared to Jason-3.

Daily statistics of Sea Level Anomaly (SLA) standard deviation in meters for Jason-3 in red and HY2B in blue showing a good quality of HY2B measurements

Noise level of SWH (left) and SLA (right) measurements for HY2B and Jason-3

HY2B in DUACS since the 7^th of July

Since the 7th of July 2020, the DUACS Near Real Time system has been using the HY2B altimeter measurement, bringing to 6 the number of altimeter missions processed. Opposite figure shows the contribution of each satellite to the gridded products. HY2B has a 14% contribution over the July-August period. In particular, HY2B strongly helped to limit the impact of the loss of Cryosat-2 data, temporarily disactivated in the system, and the gaps in Altika measurements due to stronger than usual mispointing events. The contribution of HY2B could still be increased by 2-4% (higher than Cryosat-2) by improving the timeliness of the products, ie using OGDR based products, with a few hours of delay.

Mean contribution (DFS) in % of each satellite to the gridded products

SWH measurements

The noise level of HY2B SWH measurements is lower than Jason-3 (see Labroue et al, OSTST 2019) showing its good quality. An illustration of the interest of HY2B SWH is detailed during the Laura Hurricane (see AVISO+ web Page)  where HY2B measured wind and wave parameters on August 25 and 26 when flying over the Hurricane.

The future with HaiYang-2C

The next altimeter HaiYang-2C of the same family as HaiYang-2A and 2B has been launched on September 21st. It will be integrated into DUACS as soon as the data are available and assessed, to reinforce the resilience of the system and improve the multimission products quality.