Accuracy Assessment of the TOPEX/Poseidon Ionosphere Measurements     

CHANGYIN ZHAO  C. K. SHUM  YUCHAN YI  SHENGJIE GE  DIETER BILITZA  PHILIP CALLAHAN 《Marine Geodesy》2013,36(3-4):729-739

We conducted an assessment of the TOPEX dual-frequency nadir ionosphere observations in the TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) GDR by comparing TOPEX with the Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE) Global Ionosphere Map (GIM), the climatological model IRI2001, and the DORIS (onboard T/P) relative ionosphere delays. We investigated the TOPEX (TOPEX Side A and TOPEX Side B altimeters, TSA and TSB, respectively) ionosphere observations for the time period 1995–2001, covering periods of low, intermediate, and high solar activity. Here, we use absolute path delays (at Ku-band frequency of the TOPEX altimeter and with positive signs) rather than Total Electron Content (TEC). We found significant biases between GIM and TOPEX (GIM–TOPEX) nadir ionosphere path delays: ?8.1 ± 0.4 {mm} formal uncertainties and equivalent to 3.7 TECu) and ?9.0 ± 0.7 {mm} (4.1 TECu) for TSA and TSB, respectively, indicating that the TOPEX path delay is longer (or with higher TECu) than GIM. The estimated relative biases vary with latitude and with daytime or nighttime passes. The estimated biases in the path delays (DORIS–TOPEX) are: ?10.9 ± 0.4 {mm} (5.0 TECu) and ?14.8 ± 0.6 {mm} (6.7 TECu), for TSA and TSB, respectively. There is a distinct jump of the DORIS path delays (?3.9 ± 0.7 {mm}, TSA delays longer than TSB delays) at the TSB altimeter switch in February 1999, presumably due to inconsistent DORIS processing. The origin of the bias between GIM (GPS, L-band) and TOPEX (radar altimeter, Ku-band) is currently unknown and warrants further investigation. Finally, the estimated drift rates between GIM and TSA, DORIS and TSA ionosphere path delays for the 6-year study span are ?0.4 mm/yr and ?0.8 mm/yr, respectively, providing a possible error bound for the TOPEX/Poseidon sea level observations during periods of low and intermediate solar activity.  相似文献   

Altimeter Signal-to-Noise for Deep Ocean Processes in Operational Systems     

KIRK R. WHITMER  GREGG A. JACOBS  OLE MARTIN SMEDSTAD 《Marine Geodesy》2013,36(3-4):433-451

The ocean signal for this study is the sea surface height due to the slowly varying (greater than 5-day) ocean processes, which are predominantly the deep ocean mesoscale. These processes are the focus of present assimilation systems for monitoring and predicting ocean circulation due to ocean fronts and eddies and the associated environmental changes that impact real time activities in areas with depths greater than about 200 m. By this definition, signal-to-noise may be estimated directly from altimeter data sets through a crossover point analysis. The RMS variability in crossover differences is due to instrument noise, errors in environmental corrections to the satellite observation, and short time period oceanic variations. The signal-to-noise ratio indicates that shallow areas are typically not well observed due to the high frequency fluctuations. Many deep ocean areas also contain significant high frequency variability such as the subpolar latitudes, which have large atmospheric pressure systems moving through, and these in turn generate large errors in the inverse barometer correction. Understanding the spatial variations of signal to noise is a necessary prerequisite for correct assimilation of the data into operational systems.  相似文献   

Retracking of Jason-1 Data     

PHILIP S. CALLAHAN  ERNESTO RODRIGUEZ 《Marine Geodesy》2013,36(3-4):391-407

We present the results of retracking 18 cycles (15 from the Jason-TOPEX collinear period) of Jason-1 data. We used the retracking method of Rodriguez which simultaneously solves for all relevant waveform parameters using a 26 Gaussian model of the altimeter point target response. We find significant differences from the Jason-1 Project retracking in the key parameters of range and significant wave height (SWH) in the second version of the Project SGDRs. The differences from the Jason-1 data have a strong dependence on off-nadir angle and some dependence on SWH. The dependence of range on SWH is what is called sea state bias. The retracking technique also estimates surface skewness. For Jason-1 with its very clean waveforms we make the first direct estimates of the skewness effect on altimeter data. We believe that the differences found here and thus in overall sea surface height are the result of the standard project processing using a single Gaussian approximation to the Point Target Response (PTR) and not solving simultaneously for off nadir angle. We believe that the relatively large sea state bias errors estimated empirically for Jason-1 during the cal/val phase result from sensitivity of quantities, particularly SWH, in project GDRs to off nadir angle. The TOPEX-Jason-1 bias can be determined only when a full retracking of Jason-1 is done for the collinear period.  相似文献   

Evidence That Sea State Bias is Different for Ascending and Descending Tracks     

D. A. MITCHELL  W. J. TEAGUE  K. R. WHITMER 《Marine Geodesy》2013,36(3-4):483-494

Jason-1 and TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) measured sea-surface heights (SSHs) are compared for five regions during the verification tandem phase. The five regions are of similar latitude and spatial extent and include the Gulf of Mexico, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, and locations in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans away from land. In all five regions, a bias, defined as Jason SSH—TOPEX-B SSH, exists that is different for ascending and descending tracks. For example, in the Gulf of Mexico the bias for ascending tracks was ?0.13 cm and the bias for descending tracks was 2.19 cm. In the Arabian Sea the bias for ascending tracks was ?2.45 cm and the bias for descending tracks was ?1.31 cm. The bias was found to depend on track orientation and significant wave height (SWH), indicating an error in the sea state bias (SSB) model for one or both altimeters. The bias in all five regions can be significantly reduced by calculating separate corrections for ascending and descending tracks in each region as a function of SWH. The correction is calculated by fitting a second-order polynomial to the bias as a function of SWH separately for ascending and descending tracks. An additional constraint is required to properly apply the correction, and we chose to minimize the sum of the TOPEX-B and Jason-1 root-mean-square (rms) crossover differences to be consistent with present SSB models. Application of this constraint shows that the correction, though consistent within each region, is different for each region and that each satellite contributes to the bias. One potential source that may account for a portion of the difference in bias is the leakage in the wave forms in TOPEX-B due to differing altitude rates for ascending and descending tracks. Global SSB models could be improved by separating the tracks into ascenders and descenders and calculating a separate SSB model for each track.  相似文献   

The state‐of‐the‐art in marine navigation     

H. Bâkiiz  H. M. Ng 《Marine Geodesy》2013,36(3):209-217

Tide gauges distributed all over the world provide valuable information for monitoring mean sea level changes. The statistical models used in estimating sea level change from the tide gauge data assume implicitly that the random model components are stationary in variance. We show that for a large number of global tide gauge data this is not the case for the seasonal part using a variate-differencing algorithm. This finding is important for assessing the reliability of the present estimates of mean sea level changes because nonstationarity of the data may have marked impact on the sea level rate estimates, especially, for the data from short records.  相似文献   

Traveling wavefront ray tracing and its applications     

Irene Fischer 《Marine Geodesy》2013,36(2):165-175

The current discussion of whether marine geodesy is something entirely new or part of oceanography or geodesy can be clarified by re‐examining our notions about the basic business of geodesy. This paper contends that the same basic geodetic services, which were needed for millenia to chart and control new territory, are being adapted now to the marine environment to suit modern accuracy standards. In a brief historical review it is shown that conceptually, the oceanic regions were always an integral part of geodetic concern. The oceans were certainly part of the world for the ancient map makers and for Pythagoras’ spherical earth model. Notions connected with the marine geoid were implied in ancient speculations. Distances and directions at sea, even depths, were determined to meet the requirements of the times. With the modern sophistication in geodetic theory and measuring techniques, these ideas became more refined and demanding in turn, but they were there all the time. For obvious reasons, land geodesy developed faster; marine geodesy will catch up now, because only now there is the technical capability and also an urgent economic motivation.  相似文献   

Interannual Sea Level Variations in the South China Sea Over 1950–2009     

Dongju Peng  Hindumathi Palanisamy  Anny Cazenave  Benoit Meyssignac 《Marine Geodesy》2013,36(2):164-182

Spatial patterns of interannual sea level variations in the South China Sea (SCS) are investigated by analyzing an EOF-based 2-dimensional past sea level reconstruction from 1950 to 2009 and satellite altimetry data from 1993 to 2009. Long-term tide gauge records from 14 selected stations in this region are also used to assess the quality of reconstructed sea levels and determine the rate of sea level along the coastal area. We found that the rising rate of sea levels derived from merged satellite altimetry data during 1993–2009 and past sea level reconstruction over 1950–2009 is about 3.9 ± 0.6 mm/yr and 1.7 ± 0.1 mm/yr, respectively. For the longer period, this rate is not significantly different from the global mean rate (of 1.8 ± 0.3 mm/yr). The interannual mean sea level of the SCS region appears highly correlated with Niño 4 indices (a proxy of El Niño-Southern Oscillation/ENSO), suggesting that the interannual sea level variations over the SCS region is driven by ENSO events. Interpolation of the reconstructed sea level data for 1950–2009 at sites where tide gauge records are of poor quality (either short or gapped) show that sea level along the Chinese coastal area is rising faster than the global mean rate of 1.8 mm/yr. At some sites, the rate is up to 2.5 mm/yr.  相似文献   

On the Conversion of Antarctic Ice-Mass Change to Sea Level Equivalent     

Yixiang Tian  Marco Scaioni  Xiaohua Tong  Rongxing Li 《Marine Geodesy》2013,36(1):89-97

This technical note aims to provide a quick reference and some computational examples for the conversion between Antarctic ice-mass changes and global sea level equivalent (SLE) changes using a few assumptions that computationally simplify this complex problem and that acknowledge gaps in our knowledge of the Antarctic environment. A number of factors involved in the conversion process are discussed, and the sensitivity of the conversion result to certain aspects is analyzed. It was found that the global ocean area calculated from a recently improved global shoreline dataset has little impact on the uncertainty of the SLE estimation. SLE estimation using satellite gravity observations, such as those by GRACE, are sensitive to glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) models. One more important result from the computation is that the effective density of the volume that is gained or lost during mass change may greatly affect the outcome of the conversion if it differs greatly from the actual density of the firn/ice layers. Finally, a table of computational examples is provided for reference under some assumptions for simplifying the computation.  相似文献   

Implementation of Tidal Constituent Interpolation Method for the Israeli Coastline     

Dany Lavrov  Gilad Even-Tzur  Jörg Reinking 《Marine Geodesy》2013,36(2):190-202

Many ship-borne geodetic surveys at sea, such as Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-based sea surface height (SSH) observation, acoustic profiling of the bottom, and others, deal with a dynamic topography which undergoes several changes during the survey campaign (e.g., changes in tide, salinity and currents). Those changes affect the measurements and may causes for some variations in the results. There are several methods for tidal variations correction, being the most dominant phenomena, such as tidal zoning, tidal constituent interpolation or ocean tidal models. In this study, we have implemented the tidal constituent interpolation method for the Israeli coastline in order to assess its quality and determine whether it is suitable for use in this particular region. This paper depicts the interpolation method, discusses some difficulties in the implementation for the Israeli coast and presents results from exemplary processing. In addition, we compare the results to those obtained using global and regional tidal models.  相似文献   

Comparison of the Ku-Band Range Noise Level and the Relative Sea-State Bias of the Jason-1, TOPEX,and Poseidon-1 Radar Altimeters Special Issue: Jason-1 Calibration/Validation     

《Marine Geodesy》2013,36(3-4):201-238

TOPEX/Poseidon is a well known success, with the operational altimeter (TOPEX) and the experimental one (Poseidon-1), providing data of unprecedented quality. However, there are two major differences between the TOPEX and Poseidon-1 radar altimeters on board TOPEX/Poseidon. The first is related to the estimated range noise; the second is linked to the sea-state bias (SSB) model estimates. Since the recent launch of the Jason-1 radar altimeter (also called Poseidon-2), we have been cross-comparing these three systems to better characterize each of them. Analyzing standard user products, we have found that Jason-1 is behaving like Poseidon-1 and thus shows the same observed differences when compared with TOPEX. A comparative analysis of their features was performed, starting from the on-board acquisition of the ocean return and ending with the ground generation of the high level accuracy oceanographic product. The results lead us to believe that the sources for these differences lie in both the waveform tracking processing and the presence or abscence of a retracking procedure whether on-board or on ground. Because Poseidon-1 and Jason-1 waveforms are retracked while TOPEX waveforms are not in the products distributed to the users, we have applied the same ground retracking algorithm to the waveforms of the three radar altimeters to get consistent data sets. The analysis of the outputs has shown that: (a) the noise level for the three radar altimeters is definitively the same, and (b) the source of the relative SSB between Jason-1 and TOPEX lies in the different behavior of the on-board tracking softwares.  相似文献