RUSSIAN JOURNAL OF EARTH SCIENCES VOL. 10, ES1002, doi:10.2205/2007ES000262, 2008
[4] The central focus of the ALTICORE project is the improvement of the monitoring capabilities of satellite altimeters in the coastal region. The specific goals are:
[5] (1) to define the quality standards required for altimetry products in coastal regions based on the potential applications and user requirements;
[6] (2) to research new screening and processing strategies to recover data meeting the quality standards defined in (1);
[7] (3) to generate an improved altimetric data stream for the Mediterranean coastlines with these methods;
[8] (4) to carry out validation tests of the new product at a pilot and opportunity sites;
[9] (5) to apply the validated methodology to coastal areas in the Black, Caspian, White and Barents seas;
[10] (6) to setup a Grid-compliant system for data provision to modellers, forecasters and data-integrators in NIS countries;
[11] (7) to promote the added-value product amongst the user community.
[12] Altimetric missions in the last 15 years (TOPEX/ Poseidon, ERS 1 and 2, GFO, Envisat and Jason 1) have resulted in great advance in marine research and operational oceanography, providing accurate sea level data (at cm error level) and high-value information products (including waves and wind) for fisheries planning, ship routing and offshore operations [Cotton et al., 2004]. Satellite altimetry is now a mature technology and a routine component of operational earth observation systems. However, the utility of altimetric data near the coasts, where the impact on a number of economic activities could be significant, has been neither completely explored nor addressed from a user perspective. The main problem is that existing altimetric products are not optimised for coastal retrievals [Vignudelli et al., 2000] owing to some processing and quality control issues, for instance the fidelity of corrective terms in coastal areas and possible contamination due to the presence of land in the footprint [Lebedev and Kostianoy, 2005]. These issues are currently impeding the effective use of altimeter-derived products in coastal areas [Vignudelli et al., 2005]. This proposal aims at mitigating or removing, where possible, the obstacles to operational use of altimetry over coastal areas, with particular reference to the European seas (Mediterranean, Black, Caspian, White and Barents), through a concerted action of Western European and NIS Researchers in line with the framework of cooperation set by the INTAS initiative. We expect this project to advance coastal altimetry, from the present underexploited status, into pre-operational use with a fully implemented system for the production of quality controlled data and their dissemination, through a Grid-compliant interface, to the end-users. This will impact significantly on the use of altimetry for coastal research and coastal management.
[13] The project will initially seek to improve 1 Hz data by
[14] 1) analyzing the corrective terms and providing the best solutions, including those derived from proper local modelling;
[15] 2) developing a set of algorithms to automate quality control and gap-filling functions;
[16] 3) determining more thorough testing and validation strategies.
[17] These improved products will be delivered to users using Grid technology, allowing a deep assessment of the 1 Hz data performance and limitation over a wider range of coastal conditions (e.g., land topography, waves, winds, tides, etc.). The work outlined above will provide the input to a second phase of the project, where the feasibility and advantages of extending the processing chain to higher rate streams will be investigated. This is an extension based on the fact that currently operating altimeters such as Jason 1 and Envisat missions have been designed to provide a 20 Hz data stream which lends itself to be employed for coastal-oriented processing. High rate data streams (10 Hz) were also available from Geosat, GFO and ERS satellites. However these were much noisier than Jason and Envisat so the real utility of the high rate data from these instruments will be assessed.
Citation: 2008), Exploiting satellite altimetry in coastal ocean through the ALTICORE project, Russ. J. Earth Sci., 10, ES1002, doi:10.2205/2007ES000262.
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