Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Description and In‐Flight Assessment of the POSEIDON‐3C Altimeter of the SWOT Mission

Alexandre Guérin
* ,
Fanny Piras
ORCID logo ,
Nicolas Cuvillon
,
Alexandre Homerin
,
Sophie Le Gac
ORCID logo ,
Claire Maraldi
,
François Bignalet-Cazalet
,
Marta Alves
,
Laurent Rey
Version 1 : Received: 18 September 2024 / Approved: 19 September 2024 / Online: 19 September 2024 (10:52:15 CEST)

How to cite: Guérin, A.; Piras, F.; Cuvillon, N.; Homerin, A.; Le Gac, S.; Maraldi, C.; Bignalet-Cazalet, F.; Alves, M.; Rey, L. Description and In‐Flight Assessment of the POSEIDON‐3C Altimeter of the SWOT Mission. Preprints 2024, 2024091502. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.1502.v1 Guérin, A.; Piras, F.; Cuvillon, N.; Homerin, A.; Le Gac, S.; Maraldi, C.; Bignalet-Cazalet, F.; Alves, M.; Rey, L. Description and In‐Flight Assessment of the POSEIDON‐3C Altimeter of the SWOT Mission. Preprints 2024, 2024091502. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.1502.v1

Abstract

The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission was launched on December 16, 2022 to measure water levels over both open ocean and inland waters. To achieve these objectives, the SWOT Payload contains an innovative Ka-band radar interferometer, called KaRIn, completed with a conventional nadir altimeter called POSEIDON-3C that has been switched on a month after launch and a few days before KaRIn. POSEIDON-3C measurements provide a link between large scale phenomena and high resolution. POSEIDON-3C design is based on POSEIDON-3B, its predecessor on-board JASON-3. It is also a dual frequency radar altimeter operating in C and Ku bands, but with some improvements to enhance its performance. Even though it is a Low Resolution Mode altimeter, its performances over open ocean, inland waters and coastal zones are indeed excellent.This paper first describes the POSEIDON-3C design, and its modes with a focus on its new features and its Digital Elevation Model that drives its open-loop tracking mode. Then we assess the in-flight performances of the altimeter from an instrumental point of view. For that purpose, special and routine calibrations have been realized. They show the good performances and stability of the radar. In-flight assessments give thus confidence to ensure excellent altimeter measurement stability throughout the mission duration.

Keywords

POSEIDON‐3C; SWOT; altimeter; nadir; altimetry; LRM; DEM; tracking; calibration; validation

Subject

Engineering, Aerospace Engineering

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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