The 2013 Ibiza Calibration Campaign of Jason-2 and SARAL Altimeters

Frédéric Frappart (1, 2, 3) , Nicolas Roussel (1, 3) , Richard Biancale (1, 4, 3) , Juan José Martinez Benjamín (5) , Florian Mercier (1, 4, 3) , Félix Perosanz (1, 4, 3) , Jorge Garate Pasquin (6) , José Martín Davila (6) , Begoña Perez Gomez (7) , Carlos Gracia Gomez (5) , Rogelio Lopez Bravo (5) , Ana Tapia Gómez (5) , Jose Antonio Gili Ripoll (5) , Manuel Hernandez Pajares (5) , M. Salazar Lino (8) , Pascal Bonnefond (9, 10) , Ignasi Valles Casanova (5)

1 GET - Géosciences Environnement Toulouse
2 LEGOS - Laboratoire d'études en Géophysique et océanographie spatiales
3 GRGS - Groupement de Recherche en Géodésie Spatiale
4 CNES - Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse]
5 UPC - Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya = Université polytechnique de Catalogne [Barcelona]
6 ROA - Real Instituto y Observatorio de la Armada
7 Puertos de l’Estado
8 Universidade do Porto = University of Porto
9 GEOAZUR 7329 - Géoazur
10 OCA - Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur

This study presents the results of the 2013 Ibiza (Western Mediterranean) calibration campaign of Jason-2 and SARAL altimeters. It took place from 14 to 16 September 2013 and comprised two phases: the calibration of the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) buoys to estimate the antenna height of each of them and the absolute calibration to estimate the altimeter bias (i.e., the difference of sea level measured by radar altimetry and GNSS). The first one was achieved in the Ibiza harbor at a close vicinity of the Ibiza tide gauge and the second one was performed at ∼ 40 km at the northwest of Ibiza Island at a crossover point of Jason-2 and SARAL nominal groundtracks. Five buoys were used to delineate the crossover region and their measurements interpolated at the exact location of each overflight. The overflights occurred two consecutive days: 15 and 16 September 2013 for Jason-2 and SARAL, respectively. The GNSS data were processed using precise point positioning technique. The biases found are of (−0.1 ± 0.9) and (−3.1 ± 1.5) cm for Jason-2 and SARAL, respectively.

Domaines: Sciences de la Terre

Frédéric Frappart, Nicolas Roussel, Richard Biancale, Juan José Martinez Benjamín, Florian Mercier, et al.. The 2013 Ibiza Calibration Campaign of Jason-2 and SARAL Altimeters. Marine Geodesy, 2015, 38 (1), pp.219-232. ⟨10.1080/01490419.2015.1008711⟩. ⟨hal-01364274⟩