Abstract's details
The new IOP and GOP Ocean Products from CryoSat-2
CoAuthors
Event: 2014 Ocean Surface Topography Science Team Meeting
Session: Regional and Global CAL/VAL for Assembling a Climate Data Record
Presentation type: Type Poster
Contribution: not provided
Abstract:
Observations from CryoSat-2, and their integration with GRACE and GOCE data, are proving crucial for the core mission objective of monitoring the Cryosphere. But they also present a significant opportunity for oceanography: talks and posters at ESA workshops and symposia, recent OSTST meetings and Coastal Altimetry Workshops, have demonstrated beyond any doubts that CryoSat-2 delivers extremely valuable data over the oceans and in the coastal zone. These observations complement the observations from existing altimeters, extend them to the high latitudes (thanks to the high inclination orbit) and into the coastal zone (thanks to the SAR mode), and rival the reference missions in accuracy, due to the excellent performance of the end-to-end CryoSat-2 system.
CryoSat-2 is therefore a huge asset to the oceanographic community, and the exploitation of its data over the ocean represents a welcome additional return for ESA's investment in the mission. Recognizing this potential, the CryoSat Project has approved, in the frame of the CryoSat routine phase, the generation of additional ocean products (IOP & GOP), which are now available. To enable their full exploitation by the scientific and operational oceanographic communities, these new ocean products now need to be thoroughly quality-controlled and validated.
In this contribution we present examples of the new CryoSat IOP and GOP ocean products and describe the comprehensive and rigorous verification, scientific quality control and validation of these products that is being carried out by the UK National Oceanography Centre (NOC), an institution with direct access to a very large range of in situ observations and oceanographic models. This activity includes three complementary aspects:
- global assessment (verification) and quality control of the data;
- proper validation against other altimetric datasets, multi-sensor in situ observations, and models
- contribution to the CryoSat-2 Quality Working Group activities, in terms of presentations, reports, recommendations and support by dedicated scientific investigations.
All these three interrelated aspects are necessary to enable a full exploitation of the ocean data from Cryosat-2, and will be described in some detail. We will also introduce the activities to ensure that the accuracy and long-term stability of the GOP product are enough for climate applications.
Figure - The first view of global ocean dynamics (SSH anomaly in m) from Cryosat-2 GOP Products. Data cover the period 9-16 April 2014, i.e. the first week available on the science server. Black dots denote outliers, defined here as measurements outside ±5m
CryoSat-2 is therefore a huge asset to the oceanographic community, and the exploitation of its data over the ocean represents a welcome additional return for ESA's investment in the mission. Recognizing this potential, the CryoSat Project has approved, in the frame of the CryoSat routine phase, the generation of additional ocean products (IOP & GOP), which are now available. To enable their full exploitation by the scientific and operational oceanographic communities, these new ocean products now need to be thoroughly quality-controlled and validated.
In this contribution we present examples of the new CryoSat IOP and GOP ocean products and describe the comprehensive and rigorous verification, scientific quality control and validation of these products that is being carried out by the UK National Oceanography Centre (NOC), an institution with direct access to a very large range of in situ observations and oceanographic models. This activity includes three complementary aspects:
- global assessment (verification) and quality control of the data;
- proper validation against other altimetric datasets, multi-sensor in situ observations, and models
- contribution to the CryoSat-2 Quality Working Group activities, in terms of presentations, reports, recommendations and support by dedicated scientific investigations.
All these three interrelated aspects are necessary to enable a full exploitation of the ocean data from Cryosat-2, and will be described in some detail. We will also introduce the activities to ensure that the accuracy and long-term stability of the GOP product are enough for climate applications.
Figure - The first view of global ocean dynamics (SSH anomaly in m) from Cryosat-2 GOP Products. Data cover the period 9-16 April 2014, i.e. the first week available on the science server. Black dots denote outliers, defined here as measurements outside ±5m
