Abstract's details
Sentinel-3A STM Mission Performance after 1 year in orbit
CoAuthors
Event: 2017 Ocean Surface Topography Science Team Meeting
Session: Regional and Global CAL/VAL for Assembling a Climate Data Record
Presentation type: Type Oral
Contribution: PDF file
Abstract:
Sentinel-3A mission was successfully launched in February 2016. It is a multi-instrument mission to measure surface topography, sea- and land-surface temperature, ocean colour and land colour with high-end accuracy and reliability. We focus here on the observations acquired over ocean by the Surface Topography Mission (STM) payload that encompasses a dual frequency altimeter, a dual frequency radiometer as well as Doris, LRR and GNSS sensors.
ESA and EUMETSAT have defined the Mission Performance Framework for qualifying the performance of the Sentinel-3 mission, sensors and products. One important piece of this component is the Mission Performance Centre (MPC), which is in charge of the performance of the Optical Mission and of the Surface Topography Mission (STM).
The Sentinel-3 Mission Performance Centre (S3-MPC) has been charged with different main activities for the STM:
• Quality Control activities of the Land products
• The calibration, characterisation and performance of the altimeter (SRAL) and the microwave radiometer (MWR) sensors
• Validation of the products and ground processing
• Assessment of the mission performance
• Support for the continuous improvement of the S-3 STM performance
The present paper will detail the results on the STM Sentinel-3A Level 2 mission performance. Based on more than 1 year of Sentinel-3A data, this assessment will address the performance obtained over ocean and coastal areas for different parameters (topography, wind and wave). The mission performance will be measured through the comparison to other altimeters and models.
While the mission performance is estimated with observations over ocean surfaces, we will also present an overview of the quality over other surfaces such as Land Ice, Sea ice and inland waters.
ESA and EUMETSAT have defined the Mission Performance Framework for qualifying the performance of the Sentinel-3 mission, sensors and products. One important piece of this component is the Mission Performance Centre (MPC), which is in charge of the performance of the Optical Mission and of the Surface Topography Mission (STM).
The Sentinel-3 Mission Performance Centre (S3-MPC) has been charged with different main activities for the STM:
• Quality Control activities of the Land products
• The calibration, characterisation and performance of the altimeter (SRAL) and the microwave radiometer (MWR) sensors
• Validation of the products and ground processing
• Assessment of the mission performance
• Support for the continuous improvement of the S-3 STM performance
The present paper will detail the results on the STM Sentinel-3A Level 2 mission performance. Based on more than 1 year of Sentinel-3A data, this assessment will address the performance obtained over ocean and coastal areas for different parameters (topography, wind and wave). The mission performance will be measured through the comparison to other altimeters and models.
While the mission performance is estimated with observations over ocean surfaces, we will also present an overview of the quality over other surfaces such as Land Ice, Sea ice and inland waters.