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Senetosa
| Capraia
| Ajaccio
| Grasse
Overview
The prime CNES verification site is located on the island of Corsica, and the experiment and current results are described in detail by Exertier et al.. Initially developed in 1996, the Corsica experiment site is currently delivering ground-truth data to support calibration of TOPEX/POSEIDON and Jason-1. The fiducial reference point for the distributed experiment is located at Aspretto Air base near Ajaccio and has been surveyed using SLR (FTLRS) as well as GPS and Doris. The primary sub-satellite experiment site is located 40 km south at Cape Senetosa, where the TOPEX/POSEIDON (also Jason-1) ascending ground track from pass number 85 reaches landfall. Three coastal tide-gauge locations and accompanying GPS monuments have been surveyed at Senetosa, and sea-level data are being used on an ongoing basis to study and refine the calibration techniques using TOPEX/POSEIDON data.
Owing to land contamination of the radar footprint, however, the satellite altimeters (Jason-1 and TOPEX/POSEIDON) are not in track mode as they pass directly overhead the tide gauges. To address this, pelagic GPS techniques have been applied to measure the geoid slope between the locations of the open-ocean altimeter measurements and the coastal tide gauges at the principal Cape Senetosa site. The pelagic GPS surveys-carried out using waverider buoys and catamarans in 1998 and 1999 respectively-have provided a highly accurate and repeatable map of the marine geoid in the vicinity of the experiment site. Corrections for the geoid gradient have already improved the repeatability of the TOPEX/POSEIDON and Jason-1 bias estimates to a level commensurate with results from offshore calibration sites such as the Harvest oil platform (cf. Harvest). In parallel to continuous tide gauges measurements a GPS buoy is deployed during overflights at 10 km off-shore permitting to measure sea level exactly at the same location than altimetric measurements.
An extension of the overall calibration program to Capraia Island, located between Corsica and Italy, will provide an additional verification opportunity along the same satellite track. The overall program is expected to benefit significantly from the availability of precise laser range measurements from the FTLRS at Aspretto.Synthesis of latest calibration results for TOPEX/Poseidon & Jason-1 from Senetosa (will be soon updated with Jason-2 results)
Quick-look reports of TOPEX/Poseidon & Jason-1 calibration from Senetosa (same kind of results with Jason-2 will be soon added)
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