CryoSat-2 validation over Law Dome and the Totten Glacier in East Antarctica - aircraft trajectory accuracy assessment

• Main Authors: Watson, C, Burgette, R, Beardsley, J, Helm, V, Tregoning, P, Roberts, J, Coleman, R, Steinhage, D, Young, N, Legresy, B, Fricker, H
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: ESA Communications 2013
• Subjects: Engineering; Geomatic Engineering; Geodesy; East Antarctica; Law Dome; Totten Glacier; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://ecite.utas.edu.au/93274

In this study, we investigate the accuracy of the GPS based aircraft trajectory and subsequent ALS surface models derived from the 2011/12 season. We compare trajectories from a single typical survey flight, processed using a number of different GPS analysis strategies. We describe our approach used to obtain in situ data for ALS validation, and subsequently use these data to show agreement at the ~50 mm level (mean bias). Extensive crossover analysis using the full ALS swath shows we are able to achieve ALS precision of ~70 mm using the preferred GPS solution.