CoAuthors

Michel Calzas (CNRS - INSU Technical Division, France); Christine Drezen (CNRS - INSU Technical Division, France); Lionel Fichen (CNRS - INSU Technical Division, France); Antoine Guillot (CNRS - INSU Technical Division, France); Philippe Téchiné (LEGOS UMR 5566, France); Laurent Testut (LEGOS UMR 5566, France); Pascal Bonnefond (OCA/GEOAZUR, France); Olivier Laurain (OCA-GEOAZUR, France)

The observation of the sea level variations and the ocean sea surface topography calibration is achieved thanks to a set of specific instruments developed for these missions by Technical Division of INSU (National Institute of Universe Science) in Brest (France).

We present a static and a towed GPS buoys dedicated to altimetric
satellites calibration (CAL/VAL) and absolute sea level determination (SSH).

These developments have been supported by FOAM (From Ocean to inland waters Altimetry Monitoring), a project funded by CNES that aims to perform calibration and validation of the altimetric measurement systems over both ocean and inland water. Continuous monitoring over ocean is performed in operational sites like Corsica that is equipped with tide recorders and permanent GPS stations for in situ measurements.

These systems consist of a geodetic GPS on dedicated structures for static and towed use.