Abstract's details
Performance of the Sentinel-3 STM constellation over Inland Waters
CoAuthors
Event: 2019 Ocean Surface Topography Science Team Meeting
Session: Science IV: Altimetry for Cryosphere and Hydrology
Presentation type: Type Poster
Contribution: not provided
Abstract:
The main objective of the Copernicus Sentinel-3 Surface Topography Mission (STM) constellation over inland waters is to provide accurate measurements of water surface heights to support the monitoring of freshwater stocks for drinking water and agriculture, reduce risks for navigation, floods, and droughts. In order to provide the Copernicus Core Services as well as the end users with simple and reliable diagnoses on the L2 PDGS land products quality, the S3 Mission Performance Centre (MPC) team operationally monitors the STM data quality. This talk aims at presenting an overview of the Sentinel-3 A and B STM performances over inland waters.
The Sentinel Radar Altimeter (SRAL) sensors on-board Sentinel-3 missions differ from previous conventional pulse limited altimeters by providing observations within 300m along track bands using the Synthetic Aperture Radar Mode (SARM). The SARM measurements performances are assessed over a large set of lakes and rivers worldwide: statistical analyses between the two satellites data are performed as well as inter comparisons with the Jason-3 data over inland waters.
The S3 SRAL sensor also benefits from on-board enhanced Digital Elevation Model (DEM), tuned for inland water monitoring, allowing a precise Open Loop Tracking Command (OLTC) which is also an important asset to improve the precision of the measurements over inland waters. Comparisons of the Open Loop mode performances with respect to the conventional Close Loop (CL) mode will be shown, benefiting from data acquired during the tandem phase between Sentinel-3A and B when the altimeters recorded measurements over the same targets in the two different acquisition modes.
Performances of the two Sentinel-3 missions over the last cycles will be presented and compared to the previous ones. The global improvement of the products performance over land following the Sentinel-3 OLTC last updates will also be discussed.
The Sentinel Radar Altimeter (SRAL) sensors on-board Sentinel-3 missions differ from previous conventional pulse limited altimeters by providing observations within 300m along track bands using the Synthetic Aperture Radar Mode (SARM). The SARM measurements performances are assessed over a large set of lakes and rivers worldwide: statistical analyses between the two satellites data are performed as well as inter comparisons with the Jason-3 data over inland waters.
The S3 SRAL sensor also benefits from on-board enhanced Digital Elevation Model (DEM), tuned for inland water monitoring, allowing a precise Open Loop Tracking Command (OLTC) which is also an important asset to improve the precision of the measurements over inland waters. Comparisons of the Open Loop mode performances with respect to the conventional Close Loop (CL) mode will be shown, benefiting from data acquired during the tandem phase between Sentinel-3A and B when the altimeters recorded measurements over the same targets in the two different acquisition modes.
Performances of the two Sentinel-3 missions over the last cycles will be presented and compared to the previous ones. The global improvement of the products performance over land following the Sentinel-3 OLTC last updates will also be discussed.