CoAuthors

Sylvie Labroue (CLS, France); Pierre Féménias (ESA/ESRIN, Italy); Remko Scharroo (Eumetsat, Germany); Carolina Nogueira Loddo (Eumetsat, Germany); Saleh Abdalla (ECMWF, United Kingdom); Mònica Roca (isardSAT, Spain); Pablo Nilo (isardSAT, Spain); Francesco Nencioli (Plymouth Marine Laboratory, United Kingdom); Marie-Laure Frery (CLS, France); Steven Baker (University College London, United Kingdom); Alan Muir (University College London, United Kingdom); David Brockley (University College London, United Kingdom); Andrew Shepherd (University of Leeds, United Kingdom)

Sentinel-3A is the first altimeter to operate in delay-Doppler mode over all ocean surfaces, with the advantages of SAR altimetry expected to set new standards for the accuracy of global sea level records. To contribute usefully to the development of climate data records, the performance of the instrument needs to be fully monitored. This talk will give an overview of the processes undertaken by the Sentinel-3 Mission Performance Centre from the internal monitoring of calibration modes to the assessment of its geophysical estimates. With the wide remit of the mission, the validation activities will span consistency with other altimeters, comparison with dedicated ground observations and spectral analysis. Metocean observations, such as wind speed, wave height and total liquid water content will be contrasted with output from a high-resolution atmospheric model, and sea-ice and land-ice observations will be compared with Cryosat-2, Operation Ice Bridge, and in situ surveys.