| CEOS EO HANDBOOK – MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENTS
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Measurements > Ocean >
Ocean topography/currents >
Ocean dynamic topography
  | Measurement Definition*: Deviation of sea level from the geoid caused by ocean currents (that is after corrections for tides and atmospheric pressure effects) - Physical unit: [ cm ] - Accuracy unit: [ cm ].
Thematic Links |
| Instrument | Status/
Accuracy | Instrument Description | Measurement Technology | Timeline |
ALT
Radar Altimeter | Operational
| Global ocean topography, sea level and gravity field measurements. | Radar altimeter |  |
AMR
Advanced Microwave Radiometer | Operational
| Altimeter data to correct for errors caused by water vapour and cloud-cover. Also measures total water vapour and brightness temperature. | n/a | |
AMR-C
Advanced Microwave Radiometer for Climate | Operational
| Capabilities of the AMR with the addition of an on-board calibrator for high stability wet-tropospheric path delay correction. | n/a | |
GPSP
Global Positioning System Payload | Operational
| Precision orbit determination. | n/a | |
Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn)
Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn) | Operational
| Swath mapping radar altimeter that provides measurements for surface water. | Radar altimeter | |
LRA
Laser Retroreflector Array | Operational
| Baseline tracking data for precision orbit determination and/or geodesy. Also for calibration of radar altimeter bias. Several types used on various missions. (ASI involved in LAGEOS 2 development). | n/a | |
SAR (RADARSAT-2)
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) C band | Operational
| All-weather images of ocean, ice and land surfaces. Used for monitoring of coastal zones, polar ice, sea ice, sea state, geological features, vegetation and land surface processes. | n/a | |
SAR (RCM)
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) C band | Operational
| All-weather, C-band data to support ecosystem monitoring, maritime surveillance and disaster management. | n/a | |
SAR (RISAT)
Synthetic Aperature Radiometer (RISAT) | Operational
| Radar backscatter measurements of land, water and ocean surfaces for applications in soil moisture, crop applications (under cloud cover), terrain mapping, etc. | n/a | |
SRAL
SAR Radar Altimeter | Operational
| Marine and land services. | Radar altimeter | |
AMR-S
AMR-S Two-Beam Microwave Radiometer | Being developed
| Capabilities of the AMR with the addition of a 2nd beam to provide wet-tropospheric path delay correction within both swaths of the primary radar instrument (KaRIn) | n/a | |
IRIS
Interferometric Radar Altimeter for Ice and Snow | Being developed
| Ku-band Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar Altimeter (with added Ka-band channel for snow depth retrieval and in combination with AMR-CR MW Radiometer for ice&snow classification and wet troposphere correction) to cover the needs for continuous monitoring of the sea ice
thickness and land ice elevation measurement after Cryosat-2 with enhanced performance. | Radar altimeter | |
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* Description adapted from WMO.
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