CoAuthors

Nikita Zelensky (SGT Inc., U.S.A.); Douglas Chinn (SGT Inc., U.S.A.); Brian Beckley (SGT Inc., U.S.A.); Despina Pavlis (SGT Inc., U.S.A.)

The successful launch of Jason-3 into the tandem orbit with Jason-2 continues the long time series of altimeter data acquired from TOPEX/Poseidon and its successor missions: Jason-1 and Jason-2. We provide an update on the quality of the Jason-3 orbits, in relation to Jason-2, discussing SLR & DORIS measurement modeling improvements, force modeling improvements, comparisons with other orbits as well as a review of other metrics of orbit quality, including with altimeter data. We have also evaluated the ITRF2014 realizations from IGN, DGFI and JPL with respect to their performance on altimeter satellites, with respect to POD quality, as well as with respect to the performance of individual stations. We also discuss the evaluation of new ITRF2014-based orbits for TOPEX, Jason-1, Jason-2, Jason-3, providing estimates of the orbit error, and evaluations of comparisons with orbits from other analysis centers, including the CNES, JPL, ESA and the GFZ.