Following liftoff last November and more than six months spent carefully calibrating the most advanced mission dedicated to measuring sea-level rise, Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich is now operational – meaning that its data are available to climate researchers, ocean-weather forecasts and other data users.
Craig Donlon, ESA’s Sentinel-6 mission scientist, said, “Building on a long line of European heritage dual-frequency altimeter missions, Sentinel-6’s Poseidon-4 altimeter was designed to bring new high-resolution Ku- band synthetic aperture radar measurements into the altimetry reference time series.
“To manage the transition from Jason-3’s lower resolution measurements to Sentinel-6’s high-resolution products with confidence, Poseidon-4 acquires both conventional low-resolution measurements simultaneously with high-resolution synthetic aperture radar measurements. The high-resolution products will be available later this year. We are really pleased to see that the data from Sentinel-6 show great performance based on validation by independent measurements on the ground.”
The Permanent Facility for Altimetry Calibration on the island of Crete in Greece is home to a transponder (CND1) that is key to this validation, ensuring that Sentinel-6’s low-resolution data are the same as that of Jason-3. The transponder receives the Sentinel-6 radar signal, which is amplified and transmitted back to the satellite providing a well-characterised external calibration source.
Dr Donlon explained, “Measurements from the CDN1 transponder show that the absolute difference between measurements from Sentinel-6 and Jason-3 is less than 2 mm, which is remarkable for two independent satellites operating at an altitude of 1330 km.
“Establishing the differences between Sentinel-6 and Jason-3 is important if stability in the sea-level rise time series from satellite altimetry is to be maintained with low uncertainties.”
Craig Donlon, ESA’s Sentinel-6 mission scientist, said, “Building on a long line of European heritage dual-frequency altimeter missions, Sentinel-6’s Poseidon-4 altimeter was designed to bring new high-resolution Ku- band synthetic aperture radar measurements into the altimetry reference time series.
“To manage the transition from Jason-3’s lower resolution measurements to Sentinel-6’s high-resolution products with confidence, Poseidon-4 acquires both conventional low-resolution measurements simultaneously with high-resolution synthetic aperture radar measurements. The high-resolution products will be available later this year. We are really pleased to see that the data from Sentinel-6 show great performance based on validation by independent measurements on the ground.”
The Permanent Facility for Altimetry Calibration on the island of Crete in Greece is home to a transponder (CND1) that is key to this validation, ensuring that Sentinel-6’s low-resolution data are the same as that of Jason-3. The transponder receives the Sentinel-6 radar signal, which is amplified and transmitted back to the satellite providing a well-characterised external calibration source.
Dr Donlon explained, “Measurements from the CDN1 transponder show that the absolute difference between measurements from Sentinel-6 and Jason-3 is less than 2 mm, which is remarkable for two independent satellites operating at an altitude of 1330 km.
“Establishing the differences between Sentinel-6 and Jason-3 is important if stability in the sea-level rise time series from satellite altimetry is to be maintained with low uncertainties.”
Craig Donlon, ESA’s Sentinel-6 mission scientist, said, “Building on a long line of European heritage dual-frequency altimeter missions, Sentinel-6’s Poseidon-4 altimeter was designed to bring new high-resolution Ku- band synthetic aperture radar measurements into the altimetry reference time series.
“To manage the transition from Jason-3’s lower resolution measurements to Sentinel-6’s high-resolution products with confidence, Poseidon-4 acquires both conventional low-resolution measurements simultaneously with high-resolution synthetic aperture radar measurements. The high-resolution products will be available later this year. We are really pleased to see that the data from Sentinel-6 show great performance based on validation by independent measurements on the ground.”
The Permanent Facility for Altimetry Calibration on the island of Crete in Greece is home to a transponder (CND1) that is key to this validation, ensuring that Sentinel-6’s low-resolution data are the same as that of Jason-3. The transponder receives the Sentinel-6 radar signal, which is amplified and transmitted back to the satellite providing a well-characterised external calibration source.
Dr Donlon explained, “Measurements from the CDN1 transponder show that the absolute difference between measurements from Sentinel-6 and Jason-3 is less than 2 mm, which is remarkable for two independent satellites operating at an altitude of 1330 km.
“Establishing the differences between Sentinel-6 and Jason-3 is important if stability in the sea-level rise time series from satellite altimetry is to be maintained with low uncertainties.”
Craig Donlon, ESA’s Sentinel-6 mission scientist, said, “Building on a long line of European heritage dual-frequency altimeter missions, Sentinel-6’s Poseidon-4 altimeter was designed to bring new high-resolution Ku- band synthetic aperture radar measurements into the altimetry reference time series.
“To manage the transition from Jason-3’s lower resolution measurements to Sentinel-6’s high-resolution products with confidence, Poseidon-4 acquires both conventional low-resolution measurements simultaneously with high-resolution synthetic aperture radar measurements. The high-resolution products will be available later this year. We are really pleased to see that the data from Sentinel-6 show great performance based on validation by independent measurements on the ground.”
The Permanent Facility for Altimetry Calibration on the island of Crete in Greece is home to a transponder (CND1) that is key to this validation, ensuring that Sentinel-6’s low-resolution data are the same as that of Jason-3. The transponder receives the Sentinel-6 radar signal, which is amplified and transmitted back to the satellite providing a well-characterised external calibration source.
Dr Donlon explained, “Measurements from the CDN1 transponder show that the absolute difference between measurements from Sentinel-6 and Jason-3 is less than 2 mm, which is remarkable for two independent satellites operating at an altitude of 1330 km.
“Establishing the differences between Sentinel-6 and Jason-3 is important if stability in the sea-level rise time series from satellite altimetry is to be maintained with low uncertainties.”
Craig Donlon, ESA’s Sentinel-6 mission scientist, said, “Building on a long line of European heritage dual-frequency altimeter missions, Sentinel-6’s Poseidon-4 altimeter was designed to bring new high-resolution Ku- band synthetic aperture radar measurements into the altimetry reference time series.
“To manage the transition from Jason-3’s lower resolution measurements to Sentinel-6’s high-resolution products with confidence, Poseidon-4 acquires both conventional low-resolution measurements simultaneously with high-resolution synthetic aperture radar measurements. The high-resolution products will be available later this year. We are really pleased to see that the data from Sentinel-6 show great performance based on validation by independent measurements on the ground.”
The Permanent Facility for Altimetry Calibration on the island of Crete in Greece is home to a transponder (CND1) that is key to this validation, ensuring that Sentinel-6’s low-resolution data are the same as that of Jason-3. The transponder receives the Sentinel-6 radar signal, which is amplified and transmitted back to the satellite providing a well-characterised external calibration source.
Dr Donlon explained, “Measurements from the CDN1 transponder show that the absolute difference between measurements from Sentinel-6 and Jason-3 is less than 2 mm, which is remarkable for two independent satellites operating at an altitude of 1330 km.
“Establishing the differences between Sentinel-6 and Jason-3 is important if stability in the sea-level rise time series from satellite altimetry is to be maintained with low uncertainties.”
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