First calibration results of Jason-2 and SARAL/AltiKa satellite altimeters from the Qianli Yan permanent Cal/Val facilities, China

Abstract This work presents the first calibration results for the Jason-2 and the SARAL/AltiKa altimetric missions by using the permanent calibration facilities on the Qianli Yan islet (China). Qianli Yan is located in the Yellow Sea and only ∼3 km from the Jason-2 and SARAL/AltiKa crossover point. Analysis of the Jason-2 and SARAL/AltiKa waveform data and geophysical data over the Qianli Yan calibration area has proven that the altimeters and microwave radiometers are not contaminated by the mainland or the islet. The accuracies of the regional geoid model, provided by the First Institute of Oceanography (FIO), State Oceanic Administration of China, and the DTU10 MSS model were assessed by a GNSS buoy experiment. The results indicated that the FIO model is suitable for altimeter calibration in the Qianli Yan area. From the observations and the geoid model, the absolute biases for the Jason-2 and SARAL/AltiKa altimeters (2013–2014) were determined as 21.0 ± 5.9 and −44.0 ± 7.3 mm, respectively. The 2 years’ results indicated that the Jason-2 bias had no trend. However, the SARAL/AltiKa bias presented a downward trend that was more stable in 2014 than in 2013. The Qianli Yan results are consistent with those determined by other international dedicated calibration sites and crossover analysis.