Satellite Radar Altimeter Accuracy

An altimeter measures how high something is.

Satellite radar altimeter accuracy.

A series of satellite missions that started with topex poseidon t p in 1992 and continued with jason 1 2001 2013 jason 2 2008 2019 and jason 3 2016 present estimate. Launched in 1992 as a joint mission of the american and french space agencies and still operating as of 2001 t p is the most accurate altimeter flown to date. Satellite altimeter radar measurements can be combined with precisely known spacecraft orbits to measure sea level on a global basis with unprecedented accuracy. Free electrons in the atmosphere can delay the signal s return affecting the measurement accuracy.

The poseidon 3 altimeter emits pulses at two frequencies 13 6 and 5 3 ghz to measure the distance from the satellite to the surface range. Its microwave radars measure the distance to the sea surface with a precision of 2 cm. Abstract the unprecedented accuracy of elevations retrieved from the ice cloud and land elevation satellite icesat laser altimeter is investigated and used to characterize the range errors in the environmental satellite envisat and european remote sensing 2 satellite ers 2 radar altimeters over the continental ice sheets. Additionally analysis of the echo amplitude and shape can extract information about the wind speed and wave height respectively.

Bathymetry is measurement of the depth of the ocean. Satellite radar altimeters measure the ocean surface height sea level by measuring the time it takes a radar pulse to make a round trip from the satellite to the sea surface and back. This type of altimeter provides the distance between the antenna and the ground directly below it in contrast to a. A radar altimeter ra radio altimeter ralt electronic altimeter or reflection altimeter measures altitude above the terrain presently beneath an aircraft or spacecraft by timing how long it takes a beam of radio waves to travel to ground reflect and return to the craft.