HY-2A Altimeter Research Articles

Altimeter Calibrations in the Preliminary Four Years’ Operation of Wanshan Calibration Site

In order to accomplish the calibration and validation (Cal/Val) of altimeters, the Wanshan calibration site (WSCS) has been used as a calibration site for satellite altimeters since its completion in August 2019. In this paper, we introduced the WSCS and the dedicated equipment including permanent GNSS reference stations (PGSs), acoustic tide gauges (ATGs), and dedicated GNSS buoys (DGB), etc. placed on Zhi’wan, Wai’ling’ding, Dan’gan, and Miao’Wan islands of the WSCS. The PGSs data of Zhi’wan and Wai’ling’ding islands were processed and analyzed using the GAMIT/GLOBK (Version 10.7) and Hector (Version 1.9) software to define the datum for Cal/Val of altimeters in WSCS. The DGB was used to transfer the datum from the PGSs to the ATGs of Zhi’wan, Wai’ling’ding, and Dan’gan islands. Separately, the tidal and mean sea surface (MSS) corrections are needed in the Cal/Val of altimeters. We evaluated the global/regional tide models of FES2014, HAMTIDE12, DTU16, NAO99jb, GOT4.10, and EOT20 using the three in situ tide gauge data of WSCS and Hong Kong tide gauge data (No. B329) derived from the Global Sea Level Observing System. The HAMTIDE12 tide model was chosen to be the most accurate one to maintain the tidal difference between the locations of the ATGs and the altimeter footprints. To establish the sea surface connections between the ATGs and the altimeter footprints, a GPS towing body and a highly accurate ship-based SSH measurement system (HASMS) were used to measure the sea surface of this area in 2018 and 2022, respectively. The global/regional mean sea surface (MSS) models of DTU 2021, EGM 2008 (mean dynamic topography minus by CLS_MDT_2018), and CLS2015 were accurately evaluated using the in situ measured data and HY-2A altimeter, and the CLS2015 MSS model was used for Cal/Val of altimeters in WSCS. The data collected by the equipment of WSCS, related auxiliary models mentioned above, and the sea level data of the hydrological station placed on Dan’gan island were used to accomplish the Cal/Val of HY-2B, HY-2C, Jason-3, and Sentinel-3A (S3A) altimeters. The bias of HY-2B (Pass No. 375) was −16.7 ± 45.2 mm, with a drift of 0.5 mm/year. The HY-2C biases were −18.9 ± 48.0 mm with drifts of 0.0 mm/year and −5.6 ± 49.3 mm with −0.3 mm/year drifts for Pass No. 170 and 185, respectively. The Jason-3 bias was −4.1 ± 78.7 mm for Pass No. 153 and −25.8 ± 85.5 mm for Pass No. 012 after it has changed its orbits since April 2022, respectively. The biases of S3A were determined to be −16.5 ± 46.3 mm with a drift of −0.6 mm/year and −9.8 ± 30.1 mm with a drift of 0.5 mm/year for Pass No. 260 and 309, respectively. The calibration results show that the WSCS can commercialize the satellite altimeter calibration. We also discussed the calibration potential for a wide swath satellite altimeter of WSCS.

WAVERYS: a CMEMS global wave reanalysis during the altimetry period

As part of the Copernicus Marine Service, WAVERYS is the multi-year wave reanalysis that provides global wave data with a fine grid resolution of 1/5°. This wave reanalysis covers the period 1993–2019 and disseminates 3-h integrated wave parameters describing the sea state at the ocean surface. The wave model used is the version 4 of the model MFWAM, which is driven by sea ice fraction and wind provided by the atmospheric reanalysis ERA5. The WAVERYS includes the assimilation of altimeter wave data and directional wave spectra provided by Sentinel-1. The wave reanalysis includes also wave-current interactions by using 3-h surface current forcing provided by the ocean reanalysis GLORYS. This paper highlights the assessment of wave parameters provided by the WAVERYS. The validation has been performed with independent altimeter significant wave heights and buoy wave data. The results show the good accuracy of scatter index of SWH (significant wave height) which is 8.7% in comparison with HY-2A altimeter. Moreover, we point out that scatter index of SWH from the WAVERYS is improved by about 9% with respect to the ERA5 wave dataset. We also indicate the good accuracy of swell propagation thanks to the assimilation of directional wave spectra. An analysis has been conducted for wave-current interactions and also discussions about extreme values and trend of time series are suggested.

In-Orbit Calibration and Validation of HY-2B Altimeter Using an Improved Transponder

HY-2B (Haiyang) is the follow-on mission to HY-2A, the Chinese first sea satellite for oceanography, launched in October 2018. The main payloads onboard are similar to HY-2A. For the altimeter, an in-orbit calibration mode was designed to achieve higher calibration precision. An improved transponder was built and deployed for the calibration campaign. The purpose of this article is to describe the in-orbit calibration and validation of HY-2B altimeter based on an improved transponder. A signal-rebuilt transponder was developed and employed in HY-2A altimeter calibration. It played an important role in the quantitative analysis of HY-2A altimeter data products. For HY-2B altimeter, a newly designed calibration mode was added, and an improved transponder was built. It has some advantages over the previous one in the rebuilt signal forms and modulation ways. Two calibration campaigns were carried out, in April 2019 and October 2020 at different sites. In the two campaigns, the precision of the altimeter range calibration is obtained less than 1 cm. For further validation and assessment of the result, a comparison between HY-2B and Jason-3 was performed in terms of sea surface height on the tens of cross track points in the open ocean. The comparison result shows high degree of accuracy and stability of HY-2B altimeter instrument. In China's next five-year plan (2021–2025), many more transponders and related calibration facilities would be installed in the ocean calibration fields, serving a variety of different satellite altimetry missions.

Wind speed inversion and in-orbit assessment of the imaging altimeter on Tiangong-2 space station

Imaging altimeter (IALT) is a new type of radar altimeter system. In contrast to the conventional nadir-looking altimeters, such as HY-2A altimeter, Jason-1/2, and TOPEX/Poseidon, IALT observes the earth surface at low incident angles (2.5°–8°), so its swath is much wider and its spatial resolution is much higher than the previous altimeters. This paper presents a wind speed inversion method for the recently launched IALT onboard Tiangong-2 space station. Since the current calibration results of IALT do not agree well with the well-known wind geophysical model function at low incidence angles, a neural network is used to retrieve the ocean surface wind speed in this study. The wind speed inversion accuracy is evaluated by comparing with the ECMWF reanalysis wind speed, buoy wind speed, and in-situ ship measurements. The results show that the retrieved wind speed bias is about −0.21 m/s, and the root-mean-square (RMS) error is about 1.85 m/s. The wind speed accuracy of IALT meets the performance requirement.

Measurement of the sea surface using a GPS towing-body in Wanshan area

Wanshan area has been chosen to be the specified field to calibrate and validate (Cal/Val) the HY-2 altimeter and its follow-on satellites. In March 2018, an experiment has been conducted to determine the sea surface height (SSH) under the HY-2A ground track (Pass No. 203). A GPS towing-body (GPS-TB) was designed to measure the SSH covering an area of about 6 km×28 km wide centered on the HY-2A altimeter satellite ground track. Three GPS reference stations, one tide gauge and a GPS buoy were placed in the research area, in order to process and resolve the kinematic solution and check the precision of the GPS-TB respectively. All the GPS data were calculated by the GAMIT/GLOBK software and TRACK module. The sea surface was determined by the GPS-TB solution and the tide gauge placed on Zhiwan Island. Then the sea surface of this area was interpolated by ArcGIS 10.2 with ordinary Kriging method. The results showed that the precision of the GPS-TB is about 1.10 cm compared with the tide gauge placed nearby, which has an equivalent precision with the GPS buoy. The interpolated sea surface has a bias of −1.5–4.0 cm with standard deviation of 0.2–2.4 cm compared with the checking line. The gradient of the measured sea surface is about 1.62 cm/km along the HY-2 orbit which shows a good agreement compared with the CLS11 mean sea surface (MSS). In the Cal/Val of satellites, the sea surface between the tide gauge/GPS buoy and the footprint of altimeter can be improved by this work.

Inversion and Validation of Improved Marine Gravity Field Recovery in South China Sea by Incorporating HY-2A Altimeter Waveform Data

HaiYang-2A (HY-2A, where ‘Haiyang’ means ‘Ocean’ in Chinese) has provided reliable sea surface height observations for gravity with uniform ocean data coverage on a global scale for more than 8 years, particularly with denser across track sampling during the geodetic mission since March 2016. This paper aims at modeling and evaluating the regional marine gravity field at 1′×1′ resolution by incorporating HY-2A altimeter waveform data from 7 complete 168-day cycles in the geodetic mission phase. Initial evaluation indicates that, firstly, the measurements in the geodetic mission stay at a consistent accuracy level with observations at the start-of-life stage according to statistics of discrepancies at crossover points cycle by cycle. Secondly, range precision improvement can be achieved using a two-pass weighted least-squares retracker. Thirdly, a downsampling procedure combined with a low-pass filter is designed for HY-2A 20 Hz data to obtain 5 Hz measurements with enhanced precision. We calculate the 1′×1′ marine gravity field model over the South China Sea area by using the EGM2008 model as a reference field with the remove/restore method. The verifications with published models and shipborne gravimetric data show that HY-2A GM data is capable of improving marine gravity field modeling. Results show slightly higher accuracy than other models with similar input datasets but not including HY-2A. The accuracy is also compared with the latest DTU17 and SIO V27.1 model.

How HY-2A/GM altimeter performs in marine gravity derivation: assessment in the South China Sea

SUMMARY HY-2A is China's first satellite altimeter mission, launched in Aug. 2011. Its geodetic mission (GM) started from 2016 March 30 till present, collecting sea surface heights for about five 168-d cycles. To test how the HY-2A altimeter performs in marine gravity derivation, we use the least-squares collocation method to determine marine gravity anomalies on 1′ × 1′ grids around the South China Sea (covering 0°–30°N, 105°E–125°E) from the HY-2A/GM-measured geoid gradients. We assess the qualities of the HY-2A/GM-derived gravity over different depths and areas using the bias and tilt-adjusted ship-borne gravity anomalies from the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) and the Second Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) of P. R. China. The RMS difference between the HY-2A/GM-derived and the NCEI ship-borne gravity is 5.91 mGal, and is 5.33 mGal when replacing the HY-2A value from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) V23.1 value. The RMS difference between the HY-2A/GM-derived and the MNR ship-borne gravity is 2.90 mGal, and is 2.76 mGal when replacing the HY-2A value from the SIO V23.1 value. The RMS difference between the HY-2A and SIO V23.1 value is 3.57 mGal in open sea areas at least 20 km far away from the coast. In general, the difference between the HY-2A/GM-derived gravity and ship-borne gravity decreases with decreasing gravity field roughness and increasing depth. HY-2A results in the lowest gravity accuracy in areas with islands or reefs. Our assessment result suggests that HY-2A can compete with other Ku-band altimeter missions in marine gravity derivation.

Absolute calibration of HY-2A and Jason-2 altimeters for sea surface height using GPS buoy in Qinglan, China

GPS buoy methodology is one of the main calibration methodologies for altimeter sea surface height calibration. This study introduces the results of the Qinglan calibration campaign for the HY-2A and Jason-2 altimeters. It took place in two time slices; one was from August to September 2014, and the other was in July 2015. One GPS buoy and two GPS reference stations were used in this campaign. The GPS data were processed using the real-time kinematic (RTK) technique. The final error budget estimate when measuring the sea surface height (SSH) with a GPS buoy was better than 3.5 cm. Using the GPS buoy, the altimeter bias estimate was about −2.3 cm for the Jason-2 Geophysical Data Record (GDR) Version ‘D’ and from −53.5 cm to −75.6 cm for the HY-2A Interim Geophysical Data Record (IGDR). The bias estimates for Jason-2 GDR-D are similar to the estimates from dedicated calibration sites such as the Harvest Platform, the Crete Site and the Bass Strait site. The bias estimates for HY-2A IGDR agree well with the results from the Crete calibration site. The results for the HY-2A altimeter bias estimated by the GPS buoy were verified by cross-calibration, and they agreed well with the results from the global analysis method.

Improvement of Sea Surface Height Measurements of HY-2A Satellite Altimeter Using Jason-2

HY-2A, which was launched on 16 August 2011, is the Chinese first microwave ocean dynamics environment satellite. Analyses of HY-2A daily sea-level anomaly data and HY-2A–Jason-2 (H-J) dual crossover sea-level anomaly differences show that HY-2A has measurement differences that mainly refer to an orbit error. H-J crossover differences and HY-2A–HY-2A (H-H) crossover differences give an estimate of the HY-2A orbit error. Smoothing cubic-spline functions are then used to obtain a continuous estimation of the HY-2A orbit error over time. On the basis of the simultaneous global minimization of H-J dual crossover differences and H-H crossover differences, the HY-2A observation error is efficiently reduced and height measurement data that are more precise are obtained. Specifically, the range bias/trend of the HY-2A altimeter is removed effectively and the root mean square of H-J crossover sea-level anomaly differences decrease from above 60 cm to 5.64 cm, and the standard deviation of H-J crossover differences decreases from 6.68 to 5.64 cm. Furthermore, the rms and standard deviations of H-H crossover differences both decrease from 7.46 to 6.55 cm. The results show that HY-2A after correction has a measurement accuracy and precision that are comparable to those of Jason-2.

HY-2A Altimeter Data Initial Assessment and Corresponding Two-Pass Waveform Retracker

The accuracy and resolution of the marine gravity field derived from multisatellite altimeter data sets mainly depend on the corresponding range precision and spatial distribution. Here, we preliminarily investigate the performance of HY-2A altimeter data by analyzing cross-mission sea surface height discrepancies with SARAL/AltiKa and calculating correlation coefficients with respect to tide gauge measurements. We also explore the improved range precision that can be achieved using a two-pass weighted least squares retracker which was proposed for the purpose of optimal gravity field recovery. Firstly, both the exact repetitive mission and the geodetic mission for HY-2A provide new track orientations and different data coverage for recovering the marine gravity field, and these dense geographical distributions are more greatly attributed to the geodetic mission in recent years. Secondly, HY-2A provides reliable sea surface height measurements based on exterior verifications by SARAL/AltiKa geophysical data records and tide gauge measurements, although the accuracy level is slightly lower than SARAL/AltiKa. Another more exciting finding is that the statistics of along-track sea surface heights in one-second intervals show that the two-pass retracking does further improve the range precision by a factor of 1.6 with respect to 20 Hz retracked results in sensor data records. In conclusion, the HY-2A mission can substantially improve the global accuracy and resolution of the marine gravity field and will reveal new tectonic features such as microplates, abyssal hill fabric, and new uncharted seamounts on the ocean floor.

Nonparametric estimations of the sea state bias for a radar altimeter

To estimate the sea state bias (SSB) for radar altimeter, two nonparametric models, including a Nadaraya-Watson (NW) kernel estimator and a local linear regression (LLR) estimator, are studied based on the Jason-2 altimeter data. Selecting from different combinations of the Gaussian kernel function, spherical Epanechnikov kernel function, a fixed bandwidth and a local adjustable bandwidth, it is observed that the LLR method with the spherical Epanechnikov kernel function and the local adjustable bandwidth is the optimal nonparametric model for the SSB estimation. The comparisons between the nonparametric and parametric models are conducted and the results show that the nonparametric model performs relatively better at high-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. This method has been applied to the HY-2A altimeter as well and the same conclusion can be obtained.

Estimating the Time Tag Bias of HY-2A Radar Altimeter and Its Application to Dual-frequency Ionosphere Correction

ABSTRACTThe sea surface height (SSH) derived from radar altimetry is determined by the distance from the satellite to the sea surface and the altitude of the satellite above a reference ellipsoid. The former is measured by the radar altimeter, while the latter is determined by the precision orbit determination (POD). The clock for the POD equipment is independent from that of the radar altimeter onboard the HY-2A satellite. The time tag bias, which is the bias between the time tags provided by the two independent clocks, can greatly affect the SSH measurement accuracy of HY-2A altimeter. This paper estimates the time tag bias of HY-2A radar altimeter using the crossover differences obtained from the sensor geophysical dataset records (SGDR) from February 2014. We obtained a −0.61-ms Ku-band time tag bias and a −5.61-ms C-band time tag bias. After we added the time tag bias corrections to the SSH measurements from Ku and C bands, respectively, the means and standard deviations of the global crossover differences can be significantly reduced. We then applied the SSH measurements with the time tag biases corrected to calculate the HY-2A dual-frequency ionosphere correction, significantly improving the accuracy of the HY-2A dual-frequency ionosphere correction.

Sea Surface Height and Significant Wave Height Calibration Methodology by a GNSS Buoy Campaign for HY-2A Altimeter

GNSS buoys are innovative ocean instruments, which can simultaneously provide calibrations of the sea surface height (SSH) and significant wave height (SWH) products of satellite altimeters. This paper investigates the SSH and SWH retrieval methods by GNSS buoys. To improve the SSH accuracy, an innovative adaptive Vondrak filter is designed to reduce the ocean-wave noise, and the singular spectrum analysis technology is adopted to reduce the instrument noise. A method of the altimeter products calibration by GNSS buoys is proposed. An ocean calibration campaign was implemented to measure the SSH and SWH at the HY-2A altimeter nadir. A fifth-order polynomial fitting strategy is applied to exploit the potentials of altimeter SSH measurements. A SSH bias of +4.9 ± 5.0 cm and a SWH bias of +3.8 ± 4.0 cm using four-parameters maximum-likelihood estimation (MLE4) retracking algorithm were acquired, which were well below the specifications of the altimetry measurement. Besides, the SSH bias and SWH bias were +4.2 ± 5.2 and +22.9 ± 9.6 cm, respectively, based on the HY-2A operational SWH products (using MLE3 retracker), proving that the four-parameters retracking algorithm outperformed the conventional three-parameters retracking algorithm in accuracy and consistency, at least for SWH retrieving.

Development of the Reconstructive Transponder for In-Orbit Calibration of HY-2A Altimeter

China’s first ocean dynamic satellite HY-2A was launched in August 2011 which carries a dual-frequency (Ku- and C-band) altimeter to measure the global mean sea level. In-orbit calibration is essential for reliably measuring sea-surface height (SSH). This paper concerns a novel approach for HY-2A altimeter in-orbit calibration using a reconstructive transponder, which is different from the existing bent-pipe transponder. The reconstructive transponder captures, tracks, and records the altimeter’s pulses, then reconstructs the pulses, and transmits them back to the altimeter. It is carried on a SUV, reduces requirement for a permanent installation site, and is much more flexible and efficient. There is an internal calibration loop to enable the stability of the transponder electronics delay and the system gain. The transponder electronics delay and system gain are obtained through an overall measurement. Another benefit of the signal reconstructive transponder is to accurately estimate the altimeter clock frequency drift. HY-2A altimeter in-orbit calibration campaign started from March 2012, until now more than 70 experiments have been carried out at several sites. On March 31, 2013, HY-2A altimeter side-A failed owing to malfunction of its ultrastable oscillator (USO). And this abnormality is monitored by the transponder. From the successful experiments, HY-2A altimeter side-A and side-B instrument bias are obtained with 1- and 4-cm precisions separately. The USO frequency drifts of the HY-2A altimeter are monitored all through the calibration campaign.

Echo Signal Quality Analysis During HY-2A Radar Altimeter Calibration Campaign Using Reconstructive Transponder

A reconstructive transponder has been utilized for the in-orbit calibration campaign of the HY-2A radar altimeter since March 2012. The precision of final calibration result is influenced by echo signal’s quality in the HY-2A altimeter’s range window. As an indicator of the signal’s quality, echo signal dwell time is analyzed considering its influence on signal quality and its uncertainty. In HY-2A altimeter calibration, the echo signal dwell time is determined by the radial orbit prediction uncertainty and the real-time signal processing mechanism of the reconstructive transponder. The real-time signal processing mechanism of the reconstructive transponder utilizes some incoming signal samples without sending echo signals before transmitting. Comparing with the length of the HY-2A altimeter’s range window, the radial orbit prediction uncertainty is large. Large radial orbit prediction uncertainty and signal processing mechanism of the reconstructive transponder are two main factors that limit the echo signal dwell time in HY-2A altimeter calibration. Finally, approaches for increasing echo signal dwell time are briefly proposed.

Calibration of HY-2A satellite significant wave heights with in situ observation

Significant wave height (SWH) can be computed from the returning waveform of radar altimeter, this parameter is only raw estimates if it does not calibrate. But accurate calibration is important for all applications, especially for climate studies. HY-2a altimeter has been operational since April 2012 and its products are available to the scientific community. In this work, SWH data from HY-2A altimeters are calibrated against in situ buoy data from the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC), Distinguished from previous calibration studies which generally regarded buoy data as “truth”, the work of calibration for HY-2A altimeter wave data against in situ buoys was applied a more sophisticated statistical technique—the total least squares (TLS) method which can take into account errors in both variables. We present calibration results for HY-2A radar altimeter measurement of wave height against NDBC buoys. In addition, cross-calibration for HY-2A and Jason-2 wave data are talked over and the result is given.

HY-2A Radar Altimeter Ultrastable Oscillator Drift Estimation Using Reconstructive Transponder With Its Validation By Multimission Cross Calibration

This paper presents a method estimating the HY-2A altimeter ultrastable oscillator (USO) drift with a reconstructive transponder. The frequency of the USO of the in-orbit altimeter changes with age, and a bias between the actual frequency and the nominal one exists. The USO bias contributes a portion of the altimeter range drift. The HY-2A altimeter transmits signals at a fixed time interval during calibration, and the actual interval between adjacent altimeter transitions, which is controlled by the USO, is different from the nominal one due to the USO drift. The reconstructive transponder measures the arrival times of the altimeter transmitted signals accurately with the atomic clock. The drift of the USO on board the HY-2A altimeter can be estimated accurately by using the ranges from the reconstructive transponder and the HY-2A altimeter. The USO drifts of around 40 cm/year are presented. Furthermore, the multimission cross calibration provides preliminary validation of the HY-2A altimeter USO drift.

HY-2A Altimeter Time Tag Bias Estimation Using Reconstructive Transponder

Independent clocks provide time tags for the precision orbit determination (POD) equipment and the radar altimeter onboard the HY-2A satellite, and a bias between POD data' time tag and corresponding range observation's time tag from the HY-2A altimeter exists. The time tag bias contributes a bias in the sea surface height observation due to the nonzero time rate of change of the HY-2A altimeter's height. A transponder for in-orbit radar altimeter calibration provides an approach to estimate the time tag bias. The altimeter receives the responding signals from the transponder and generates ranges. Pertinent reference ranges are obtained from the POD data and the transponder's coordinate. Using the ranges from the radar altimeter and the reference ranges, the time tag bias between the POD data and the altimeter observations can be estimated. During an in situ HY-2A altimeter calibration campaign using a reconstructive transponder from August 9, 2012, to July 20, 2014, 17 estimations of the altimeter's time tag bias were obtained. The preliminary results are presented in this letter.

Validation of HY-2A Remotely Sensed Wave Heights against Buoy Data and Jason-2 Altimeter Measurements

AbstractThe Haiyang-2A (HY-2A; HaiYang means ocean in Chinese) satellite was successfully launched in China on 16 August 2011, carrying the nation’s first operational radar altimeter along with three other microwave sensors. In this study, HY-2A altimeter significant wave height (SWH) data have been validated against National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) buoy and Jason-2 altimeter SWH data over a period of 27 months (from 1 October 2011 to 31 December 2013). During the collocation, the effects of different thresholds of several flags are carefully studied. These flags prove to be useful for the SWH selection and different thresholds are observed to change the results remarkably. The final results show that HY-2A SWHs, with a 0.339-m root-mean-square (RMS) difference and a negative bias of 0.231 m in buoy comparison, have reached the mission target (0.5-m RMS). Nonetheless, the Jason-2 altimeter performs better with a lower RMS difference of 0.292 m and a positive bias of only 0.016 m. In addition, by analyzing the residuals (altimeter minus buoy), the bias for the HY-2A altimeter is found to decline monotonically over the whole range with an overestimation at low sea state (SWH < 1 m), a minor underestimation at middle sea state (1 m < SWH < 5 m), and a severe underestimation at high sea state (SWH > 5 m). However, only an underestimation at high sea state is found for the Jason-2 altimeter. A linear regression is also proposed. The 20 days of the newly processed HY-2A SWHs are investigated and discussed as well, and a slight quality improvement has been observed using these data.