Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Sea State Bias In Altimeter Sea Level Estimates Determined By Combining Wave Model And Satellite Data, N. Tran, Douglas C. Vandemark, S. Labroue, Hui Feng, Bertrand Chapron, H. L. Tolman, J. Lambin, N. Picot

Ocean Process Analysis Laboratory

This study documents a method for increasing the precision of satellite-derived sea level measurements. Results are achieved using an enhanced three-dimensional (3-D) sea state bias (SSB) correction model derived from both Jason-1 altimeter ocean observations (i.e., sea state and wind) and estimates of mean wave period from a numerical ocean wave model, NOAA’s WAVEWATCH III. A multiyear evaluation of Jason-1 data indicates sea surface height variance reduction of 1.26 (±0.2) cm2 in comparison to the commonly applied two-parameter SSB model. The improvement is similar for two separate variance reduction metrics and for separate annual data sets spanning 2002–2004. Spatial evaluation …