Synopsis
The paper provides an overview of the progress made in satellite radar altimetry over the past 25 years and recommendations for future advancements. Altimetry has led to major advances in observing and understanding the oceans, hydrology, cryosphere, and geodesy. The paper summarizes contributions from the international altimetry community on the current state of altimetry and guidance for future missions, research, and applications.
Key points:
- Altimetry has revolutionized oceanography, hydrology, cryospheric studies, and geodesy through highly accurate and global sea surface height measurements.
- Future priorities include higher resolution observations near coastlines and ice sheets, inter-satellite calibration, and continuity of measurements.
- New technologies like SAR, SARin, and Ka-band altimetry allow higher resolution observations near coasts and ice sheets.
- Accuracies better than 1 cm are needed for monitoring mean sea level rise. Long, stable timeseries are critical.
- Recommendations are provided for future mission requirements, needed observations, accuracy, coverage, resolution, and continuity.
- New frontiers include studying sub-mesoscale dynamics, biogeochemistry, river and lake hydrology, ice sheets, sea ice, and more.
- International cooperation, open data access, education, and capacity building are key for the future of altimetry.
In summary, the paper reviews the substantial progress enabled by altimetry while providing guidance to build on these achievements in future missions and research. Key priorities identified include continuity, accuracy, coverage, resolution, and accessibility for altimetry measurements.
