EGU24-14002, updated on 09 Mar 2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-14002
EGU General Assembly 2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Synthetic Aperture Radar Altimetry Processing on Demand at ESA’s Altimetry Virtual Lab

Jérôme Benveniste1, Marco Restano2, Salvatore Dinardo3, Christopher Buchhaupt4, Michele Scagliola5, Marcello Passaro6, Luciana Fenoglio-Marc7, Américo Ambrózio8, and Carla Orrù9
Jérôme Benveniste et al.
  • 1Retired from European Space Agency, Earth Observation Science, Applications and Climate Department, Frascati, Italy (jerome@benveniste.space)
  • 2SERCO/ESRIN, Largo Galileo Galilei, Frascati, Italy
  • 3EUMETSAT, Darmstadt, Germany
  • 4University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
  • 5RHEA/ESRIN, Largo Galileo Galilei, Frascati, Italy
  • 6Technische Universität München, Germany
  • 7Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformation, University of Bonn, Germany
  • 8DEIMOS/ESRIN, Largo Galileo Galilei, Frascati, Italy
  • 9Progressive Systems, Via Enrico Fermi 62, Frascati, Italy

This presentation updates on the ESA Altimetry Virtual Lab for the exploitation of CryoSat-2 (CS-2), Sentinel-3 (S-3) and Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich (S-6MF) data from L1A (FBR) data products up to SAR/SARin L2 geophysical data products. The following on-line & on-demand state-of-the-art research  algorithm services compose the portfolio:

  • The ESA-ESRIN SARvatore service for CS-2 and S-3 services, which allow users to customise the processing at L1b & L2 (a list of configurable options for, e.g., SAMOSA+/++ and ALES+ SAR retrackers, not yet available in the ESA Ground Segment).
  • The ESA SAMPY (Cryo-TEMPO project) for CryoSat-2, which appends the SAMOSA+ retracker output to official CryoSat-2 Level-2 GOP products.
  • The TUDaBo SAR-RDSAR (TU Darmstadt–U Bonn SAR-Reduced SAR) for CS-2 and S-3, which allows users to generate reduced SAR, unfocused SAR & LRMC data, with configurable L1b & L2 processing options and retrackers (BMLE3, SINC2, TALES, SINCS, SINCS OV).
  • The TU München ALES+ SAR for CS-2 and S-3, which allows users to process official L1b data and produces L2 products by applying the empirical ALES+ SAR subwaveform retracker, including a dedicated Sea State Bias solution.
  • The Aresys Fully-Focused SAR for CS-2 & S-3, to produce L1b products with configurable options and appending the ALES+ FFSAR output.

These services will be extended with the following new services:

  • Appending the SAMOSA+ retracker output in all services.
  • The Aresys FF-SAR service for S-6MF
  • The CLS SMAP S-3 FF-SAR processor extended to process S-6MF
  • The UBonn FF-SAR Omega-Kappa processor for S-3 and S-6MF
  • An upgrade of the TUDaBo SAR-RDSAR extended to S-6MF with new ocean and coastal retrackers.
  • The ESA-ESTEC/isardSAT L1 S-6MF Ground Prototype Processor.
  • SAR services updated to process S-6MF

Output products are generated in netCDF, therefore compatible with the multi-mission “Broadview Radar Altimetry Toolbox” (BRAT, http://www.altimetry.info).

The ESA Altimetry Virtual Lab, a community space for simplified services and knowledge-sharing, is hosted on the EarthConsole® (https://earthconsole.eu), supported by the ESA Network of Resources. This service has more than 120 users and sponsored so far more than 500 CPU years, leading to more than 30 publications and 3 PhD theses.

Brochure at https://earthconsole.eu/knowledge-base/. Info at altimetry.info@esa.int.

How to cite: Benveniste, J., Restano, M., Dinardo, S., Buchhaupt, C., Scagliola, M., Passaro, M., Fenoglio-Marc, L., Ambrózio, A., and Orrù, C.: Synthetic Aperture Radar Altimetry Processing on Demand at ESA’s Altimetry Virtual Lab, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-14002, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-14002, 2024.