Coastal Altimetry Training Programme

Time

Title

Lecturer

08:45

Welcome and Introduction

Jérôme Benveniste and Marcello Passaro

THEORY

09:00

Remko Scharroo

Although the sea surface height anomaly is the prime variable of interest to a lot of users, it is in fact a (very much) derived quantity that includes, besides the altimeter range, a host of corrections based on observations as well as models. It is of great importance to understand the source and limitations of those corrections to properly evaluate the strength and weaknesses of altimetry in the coastal domain. In addition, depending on your application, some of those corrections should be invoked, or not, or one of various alternatives provided on the product should be used. This presentation aims to give an overview of the available corrections, their derivation, their limitations in the coastal domain, and their applicability to a number of applications.

09:40

Marie-Hélène Rio

Mean Sea Surface, Mean Dynamic Topography, geoid and tides are all key elements for the optimal exploitation of altimeter data in oceanography. When approaching the coast, a number of specific issues arises that may result in less accurate estimates of the altimeter derived absolute dynamic topography. In this lecture we will review the main challenges to be faced in coastal areas as well as the state-of-the art solutions for a precise determination of these reference surfaces and the tidal signal.

10:20

Coffee Break

10:50

Doug Vandemark

We will address specific differences in both technical and geophysical aspects of wind-wave investigation within 100 km of the coast, when compared to open ocean altimeter application of sea state, wind speed, and the sea state bias range correction measurements.  A survey of the applications for high resolution and long-term coastal altimeter sea state data will be discussed in the context of both coastal modeling and prediction as well as process studies.  Past and present approaches to improve these satellite measurements for users will be summarized.

DATASET & APPLICATIONS

11:30

Hands on satellite altimetry in synergy for coastal models

John Wilkin

Using coastal altimetry in conjunction with a data assimilative high-resolution coastal ocean forecasting system: re-definition of the Mean Sea Surface close to the coast, improving Mean Dynamic Topography, reconciling sea level datum with tide gauges, and consistency in model and data physics (to DAC, or not to DAC). Practical considerations for near real time operations and automation. 

12:20

Lunch

13:30

Marcello Passaro

In this lecture, the characteristics of the available altimetry product derived from the ALES algorithm will be described, with particular focus on data access and format. Example of use will be provided. A comparison of along-track coastal mean sea surface vs currently available mean sea surface models along an altimetry track is foreseen. Moreover, examples will be shown on how scientists have used the ALES data for coastal sea level analysis.

14:20

Fabien Léger

X-TRACK has been developed in order to optimize the completeness and the accuracy of the sea surface height information derived from satellite altimetry in coastal ocean areas. It is tailored for extending the use of altimetry data to coastal ocean applications and provides freely available along-track Sea Level Anomaly time series that cover all the coastal oceans. This presentation proposes to present the X-TRACK products (both sea level and tidal harmonic estimations) and show how to compute different diagnostics as well as how they can be used in different coastal applications (coastal ocean circulation studies, mesoscale feature monitoring, regional model validation, tidal analysis,...).

15:10

Coffee Break

15:40

Claire Dufau

Thanks to regular interactive workshops gathering altimeter experts and regional modelers, Tailored Altimetry Products for Assimilation Systems (TAPAS) are proposed in the MyOcean/CMEMS catalogue since 2013. These Sea Level Anomalies products allow regional modelers to change the physical content of the altimeter measurement in consistency with their model capabilities and characteristics, considerably improving the results of the assimilation of the altimeter measurement into such models. In this lecture, we will describe the TAPAS products, their content, their format and how to use them. A synthesis of the most recent outcomes of the TAPAS working group will provide examples of their use and present new experimental datasets.

SAR ALTIMETRY

16:30

Walter H. F. Smith

Currently, the CryoSat-2 and Sentinel-3 altimeter satellites can collect data in either conventional ("LRM", like Jason-3) or "SAR" mode, and Jason-CS/Sentinel-6 (to launch in 2020) will provide both. The SAR mode data can be processed to narrow the instrument's "view" of the surface, with potential advantages in the coastal zone. This lecture will introduce SAR altimetry concepts and acquaint the audience with the concepts and jargon (for example, "Doppler", "multi-looking", "Hamming window", "coherence") needed to understand the data processing options.

17:20

SARvatore and progresses in SAR Altimetry Applications  

Salvatore Dinardo and Marco Restano

In this lecture, we will address the different methodologies to process L1A data up to L2 in SAR mode, describing the most cutting-edge techniques which have been developed in the recent years and their relative applications. An introduction to ESA/ESRIN GPOD platform, SARvatore service for CryoSat-2 and Sentinel-3 and other Radar Altimetry services will be given and it will be featured what GPOD platform can offer to users and how users can expand  the environment and deploy their own applications in the system

18:10

Wrap-up and Networking Ice-Breaker Refreshment Session

19:30

Evacuate premises and meet for dinner altogether