Symposium is organised around oral and poster presentations selected by the Scientific Committee. After a plenary opening session on “25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry: a historical perspective” with keynote presentations, parallel and poster sessions will be scheduled on dedicated topics:

• 25 years of Progress in Radar Altimetry: a historical perspective (keynote presentations)
• Advances in our understanding of the open ocean
• Advances in our understanding of coastal processes
• Advances in our understanding of wave observations and their applications
• Altimetric contributions to gravity field, marine geodesy, bathymetry modeling
• Precise orbit determination
• Advances in our understanding of land processes and inland water storage and fluxes
• Advances in our understanding of the cryosphere
• Extending the 25-year altimetric record: challenges and achievements
• Synergy between Altimetry, other data and models in support of operational oceanography
• Outreach, education and altimetric data services
• Outlook on future missions requirements

Summary reports will be given in the closing plenary session. Round table discussions will be scheduled and appropriate seed questions prepared by the Scientific Committee.

Presenters of both oral and poster presentations will have the opportunity to submit their contributions to a peer-reviewed Journal Special Issue within three months after the Symposium. The outcome of the Symposium will include a "Summary and Recommendations" document.

The "25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry" Symposium will take place in the first part of the week (3 days).

The annual meeting of the Ocean Surface Topography Science Team (OSTST), convened by Pascal Bonnefond (Observatoire de Paris for CNES), Craig Donlon (ESA), Eric Leuliette (NOOA), Remko Scharroo (EUMETSAT) and Josh Wills (JPL/NASA), will be held in the second part of the week (Thursday and Friday) and will address specific issues on the TOPEX/Poseidon-Jason series of missions, including algorithm and model improvement, Cal/Val activities, merging with other altimetric satellites (CryoSat-2, SARAL/AltiKa, HY-2, Sentinel-3), and preparation for the Sentinel-6/Jason-CS and SWOT missions.

Because of the obvious relationship with the Symposium, it is proposed that the purely science presentations of the OSTST PIs and Co-Is be given in the Symposium. This will leave more time during OSTST for specific splinters, technical presentations and round table discussions, including a poster session.

The International Doris Service (IDS) workshop (1.5 days), convened by P. Ferrage (CNES), J.H. Capdeville (CLS) and J.M. Lemoine (CNES), will take place in parallel to the "25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry" Symposium and start after the Monday morning plenary session. The embedding of the IDS workshop in the Symposium and OSTST will foster dialogue between IDS members and users of the Doris system, in the area of orbit determination, precise positioning and other application fields.