Amanda Plagge (NOAA, United States); Lauren Vocke (University of North Dakota, USA)

After a successful 12-month commissioning, the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich (S6MF) mission, entered routine operations on 29 November 2021. Sentinel-6 was designed to operate in two altimeter modes, Low-Rate (LR) and High-Rate (HR), which increased the complexity of the commissioning compared to its predecessor missions in the TOPEX/Jason series. Calibration/validation of both LR and HR products are essential to NOAA users of sea level, wave heights, and wind speeds, and for a wide range of applications from marine wave and wind hazard warnings, hurricane intensity forecasting, coast inundation, marine debris mitigation, and fisheries management.

As S6MF assumes the role of reference mission in the altimetry constellation, we summarize independent and intermission cal/val results. From a global tide gauge network, we assess system stability and from available buoys we evaluate near-real time wind and waves. Using the Radar Altimeter Database System, we also summarize intermission differences.