Orbit-related sea level errors for TOPEX altimetry at seasonal to decadal timescales
Interannual to decadal sea level trends are indicators of climate variability and change. A major source of global and regional sea level data is satellite radar altimetry, which relies on precise knowledge of the satellite's orbit. Here, we assess the error budget of the radial orbit component...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:41dd98852c5d484ea1ac6d533ebafaf1 2023-05-15T17:36:48+02:00 Orbit-related sea level errors for TOPEX altimetry at seasonal to decadal timescales S. Esselborn S. Rudenko T. Schöne 2018-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-205-2018 https://doaj.org/article/41dd98852c5d484ea1ac6d533ebafaf1 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://www.ocean-sci.net/14/205/2018/os-14-205-2018.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0784 https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0792 doi:10.5194/os-14-205-2018 1812-0784 1812-0792 https://doaj.org/article/41dd98852c5d484ea1ac6d533ebafaf1 Ocean Science, Vol 14, Pp 205-223 (2018) Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 article 2018 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-205-2018 2022-12-31T08:18:46Z Interannual to decadal sea level trends are indicators of climate variability and change. A major source of global and regional sea level data is satellite radar altimetry, which relies on precise knowledge of the satellite's orbit. Here, we assess the error budget of the radial orbit component for the TOPEX/Poseidon mission for the period 1993 to 2004 from a set of different orbit solutions. The errors for seasonal, interannual (5-year), and decadal periods are estimated on global and regional scales based on radial orbit differences from three state-of-the-art orbit solutions provided by different research teams: the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), the Groupe de Recherche de Géodésie Spatiale (GRGS), and the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The global mean sea level error related to orbit uncertainties is of the order of 1 mm (8 % of the global mean sea level variability) with negligible contributions on the annual and decadal timescales. In contrast, the orbit-related error of the interannual trend is 0.1 mm yr −1 (27 % of the corresponding sea level variability) and might hamper the estimation of an acceleration of the global mean sea level rise. For regional scales, the gridded orbit-related error is up to 11 mm, and for about half the ocean the orbit error accounts for at least 10 % of the observed sea level variability. The seasonal orbit error amounts to 10 % of the observed seasonal sea level signal in the Southern Ocean. At interannual and decadal timescales, the orbit-related trend uncertainties reach regionally more than 1 mm yr −1 . The interannual trend errors account for 10 % of the observed sea level signal in the tropical Atlantic and the south-eastern Pacific. For decadal scales, the orbit-related trend errors are prominent in a several regions including the South Atlantic, western North Atlantic, central Pacific, South Australian Basin, and the Mediterranean Sea. Based on a set of test orbits calculated at GFZ, the sources of the observed orbit-related errors are further ... Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Southern Ocean Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Southern Ocean Pacific Géodésie ENVELOPE(139.846,139.846,-66.675,-66.675) Ocean Science 14 2 205 223 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
spellingShingle |
Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 S. Esselborn S. Rudenko T. Schöne Orbit-related sea level errors for TOPEX altimetry at seasonal to decadal timescales |
topic_facet |
Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
description |
Interannual to decadal sea level trends are indicators of climate variability and change. A major source of global and regional sea level data is satellite radar altimetry, which relies on precise knowledge of the satellite's orbit. Here, we assess the error budget of the radial orbit component for the TOPEX/Poseidon mission for the period 1993 to 2004 from a set of different orbit solutions. The errors for seasonal, interannual (5-year), and decadal periods are estimated on global and regional scales based on radial orbit differences from three state-of-the-art orbit solutions provided by different research teams: the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), the Groupe de Recherche de Géodésie Spatiale (GRGS), and the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The global mean sea level error related to orbit uncertainties is of the order of 1 mm (8 % of the global mean sea level variability) with negligible contributions on the annual and decadal timescales. In contrast, the orbit-related error of the interannual trend is 0.1 mm yr −1 (27 % of the corresponding sea level variability) and might hamper the estimation of an acceleration of the global mean sea level rise. For regional scales, the gridded orbit-related error is up to 11 mm, and for about half the ocean the orbit error accounts for at least 10 % of the observed sea level variability. The seasonal orbit error amounts to 10 % of the observed seasonal sea level signal in the Southern Ocean. At interannual and decadal timescales, the orbit-related trend uncertainties reach regionally more than 1 mm yr −1 . The interannual trend errors account for 10 % of the observed sea level signal in the tropical Atlantic and the south-eastern Pacific. For decadal scales, the orbit-related trend errors are prominent in a several regions including the South Atlantic, western North Atlantic, central Pacific, South Australian Basin, and the Mediterranean Sea. Based on a set of test orbits calculated at GFZ, the sources of the observed orbit-related errors are further ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
S. Esselborn S. Rudenko T. Schöne |
author_facet |
S. Esselborn S. Rudenko T. Schöne |
author_sort |
S. Esselborn |
title |
Orbit-related sea level errors for TOPEX altimetry at seasonal to decadal timescales |
title_short |
Orbit-related sea level errors for TOPEX altimetry at seasonal to decadal timescales |
title_full |
Orbit-related sea level errors for TOPEX altimetry at seasonal to decadal timescales |
title_fullStr |
Orbit-related sea level errors for TOPEX altimetry at seasonal to decadal timescales |
title_full_unstemmed |
Orbit-related sea level errors for TOPEX altimetry at seasonal to decadal timescales |
title_sort |
orbit-related sea level errors for topex altimetry at seasonal to decadal timescales |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-205-2018 https://doaj.org/article/41dd98852c5d484ea1ac6d533ebafaf1 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(139.846,139.846,-66.675,-66.675) |
geographic |
Southern Ocean Pacific Géodésie |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean Pacific Géodésie |
genre |
North Atlantic Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Ocean Science, Vol 14, Pp 205-223 (2018) |
op_relation |
https://www.ocean-sci.net/14/205/2018/os-14-205-2018.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0784 https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0792 doi:10.5194/os-14-205-2018 1812-0784 1812-0792 https://doaj.org/article/41dd98852c5d484ea1ac6d533ebafaf1 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-205-2018 |
container_title |
Ocean Science |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
205 |
op_container_end_page |
223 |
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1766136415063638016 |