Saskia Esselborn (GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Germany); Tilo Schöne (GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Germany); Christian Gruber (GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Germany); Karl-Hans Neumayer (GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Germany)

Precise orbits of altimetry satellites are a prerequisite for various altimetry applications such as altimetry mission inter-calibration, generation of mean sea surface height models, investigations of global and regional mean sea level changes, and others. In this paper we present precise orbits of the altimetry satellites TOPEX/Poseidon (1992-2005), Jason-1 (2002-2013) and Envisat (2002-2012) recently computed at GFZ in the ITRF2008 at the time intervals given. Orbit solutions were derived using a new time-variable geopotential model as well as daily gravity field solutions interpolated from monthly GRACE-based gravity field solutions. We investigate the long-term accuracy and stability of the orbit solutions derived using various types of tracking data. The influence of the parameterization used for precise orbit determination on the orbit quality is also studied. Changes of regional sea level trends and sea level variability related to the choice of the orbit solution are investigated.