Satellite Altimetry Over Oceans And Land Surfaces

Satellite remote sensing, in particular by radar altimetry, is a crucial technique for observations of the ocean surface and of many aspects of land surfaces, and of paramount importance for climate and environmental studies. This book provides a state-of-the-art overview of the satellite altimetry techniques and related missions, and reviews the most-up-to date applications to ocean dynamics and sea level. It also discusses related space-based observations of the ocean surface and of the marine geoid, as well as applications of satellite altimetry to the cryosphere and land surface waters; operational oceanography and its applications to navigation, fishing and defense.

Satellite remote sensing, in particular by radar altimetry, is a crucial technique for observations of the ocean surface and of many aspects of land surfaces, and of paramount importance for climate and environmental studies. This book provides a state-of-the-art overview of the satellite altimetry techniques and related missions, and reviews the most-up-to date applications to ocean dynamics and sea level. It also discusses related space-based observations of the ocean surface and of the marine geoid, as well as applications of satellite altimetry to the cryosphere and land surface waters; operational oceanography and its applications to navigation, fishing and defense.

Coastal Altimetry: Selected Case Studies from Asian Shelf Seas provides information on developments over the past decade in the processing of remotely sensed altimetry in coastal areas, with an overview of expected errors and where they stem from, along with remaining gaps in processing. Challenges covered include the retracking of the altimetric signal to account for land contamination, tropospheric water corrections, and tidal model improvements, along with the pros and cons of widely available products. Additional chapters provide recent research in the regional seas of Asia and cover variability, dynamics, predictability and prediction, impacts of extreme events, effects to ecosystems, and more. This book offers readers a dataset that can illuminate our understanding of the propagation of planetary boundary waves that have a significant sea level signal in near coastal regions. As such, researchers and students who have a foundation in satellite altimetry and want to know the latest development of open ocean and coastal satellite altimetry, especially in Asian coastal regions, will benefit from this book. Presents the advancement of coastal altimetry technologies from various dedicated experts Includes case studies throughout to give real-life examples that can be implemented globally Provides chapters that include summaries of key points and an outlook to the future

Satellite radar altimetry, as one of the basic space measurement techniques intended primarily for solving global geoscientific tasks by means of radar measurements from satellites towards the Earth, has become, primarily due to its accuracy, a key spatial technique for observing the ocean surface as well as many aspects of the land surface. During the last more than three decades, satellite altimetry has revolutionized the geosciences, especially oceanography, geophysics, and geodesy, enabling a much better understanding of the shape of the Earth's sea level and its changes over time. In this way, it is possible to monitor natural- and human-induced changes in the balance of water masses. For researchers in the field of geosciences, satellite radar altimetry ensures the collection of high-precision global data of uniform accuracy on sea level and therefore is essential for quality unification of vertical height systems, regional and global geoid and gravity, as well as bathymetry modelling, monitoring the impact of sea level rise as well as the vertical movement of the Earth's crust in coastal areas, ice melting detection, and more, all of which have a significant impact on climate and environmental studies. This book provides an up-to-date overview of the technology itself and some recent developments in using altimeter data to determine sea-level changes and sea-level variability, modelling marine bathymetry from satellite altimeter-derived gravity data, including the related issue of solving terrain corrections for gravity reduction, as well as the possibility of applying artificial intelligence in the monitoring of Earth's changes.

The new level of precision and global coverage provided by satellite altimetry is rapidly advancing studies of ocean circulation. It allows for new insights into marine geodesy, ice sheet movements, plate tectonics, and for the first time provides high-resolution bathymetry for previously unmapped regions of our watery planet and crucial information on the large-scale ocean features on intra-season to interannual time scales. Satellite Altimetry and Earth Sciences has integrated the expertise of the leading international researchers to demonstrate the techniques, missions, and accuracy of satellite altimetry, including altimeter measurements, orbit determination, and ocean circulation models. Satellite altimetry is helping to advance studies of ocean circulation, tides, sea level, surface waves and allowing new insights into marine geodesy. Satellite Altimetry and Earth Sciences provides high resolution bathymetry for previously unmapped regions of our watery planet. Satellite Altimetry and Earth Sciences is for a very broad spectrum of academics, graduate students, and researchers in geophysics, oceanography, and the space and earth sciences. International agencies that fund satellite-based research will also appreciate the handy reference on the applications of satellite altimetry.

Advances in space-borne technologies lead to improvements in observations and have a notable impact on geodesy and its applications. As a consequence of these improvements in data accuracies, spatial and temporal resolutions, as well as the developments in the methodologies, more detailed analyses of the Earth and a deeper understanding of its state and dynamic processes are possible today. From this perspective, this book is a collection of the selected reviews and case-study articles that report the advances in methodology and applications in geodesy. The chapters in the book are mainly dedicated to the Earth’s gravity field theory and applications, sea level monitoring and analysis, navigation satellite systems data and applications, and monitoring networks for tectonic deformations. This collection is a current state analysis of the geodetic research in theory and applications in today’s modern world.

Satellite altimetry is a radar technique for measuring the topography of the Earth’s surface. It was initially designed for measuring the ocean’s topography, with reference to an ellipsoid, and for the determination of the marine geoid. Satellite altimetry has provided extremely valuable information on ocean science (e.g., circulation surface geostrophic currents, eddy structures, wave heights, and the propagation of oceanic Kelvin and Rossby waves). With more than 25 years of observations, it is also becoming vital to climate research, providing accurate measurements of sea level variations from regional to global scales. Altimetry has also demonstrated a strong potential for geophysical, cryospheric, and hydrological research and is now commonly used for the monitoring of Arctic and Antarctic ice sheet topography and of terrestrial surface water levels. This book aims to present reviews and recent advances of general interest in the use of radar altimetry in Earth sciences. Manuscripts are related to any aspect of radar altimetry technique or geophysical applications. We also encourage manuscripts resulting from the application of new altimetric technology (SAR, SARin, and Ka band) and improvements expected from missions to be launched in the near future (i.e., SWOT).

Satellite radar altimetry refers to a technique that is used for calculating the vertical distance between a satellite and the nadir surface of the Earth by monitoring the time it takes for radar pulses to travel from the satellite antenna to the surface and back to the altimeter. It enables accurate remote sensing of the topography of the ocean's surface. Satellite altimetry is utilized in geodesy to investigate sea-level variability, tectonic plate motion, natural hazards, size and form of the Earth, inland water-related occurrences and Earth's gravity field over oceans. Satellite radar altimetry is also used widely in Earth analysis for regional and global geoid modeling, monitoring ice sheet melting, unifying vertical height systems, and observing the effects of sea level rise. This book aims to shed light on the applications of satellite radar altimetry in Earth analysis. A number of latest researches have been included to keep the readers up-to-date with the global concepts in this area of study.