GFZ VER13 SLCCI precise orbits of altimetry satellites ERS-1, ERS-2, Envisat, TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, and Jason-2 in the ITRF2014 reference frame

Cite as:

Rudenko, Sergei; Schöne, Tilo; Esselborn, Saskia; Neumayer, Karl Hans (2018): GFZ VER13 SLCCI precise orbits of altimetry satellites ERS-1, ERS-2, Envisat, TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, and Jason-2 in the ITRF2014 reference frame. GFZ Data Services. https://doi.org/10.5880/GFZ.1.2.2018.003

Status

I N R E V I E W : Rudenko, Sergei; Schöne, Tilo; Esselborn, Saskia; Neumayer, Karl Hans (2018): GFZ VER13 SLCCI precise orbits of altimetry satellites ERS-1, ERS-2, Envisat, TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, and Jason-2 in the ITRF2014 reference frame. GFZ Data Services. https://doi.org/10.5880/GFZ.1.2.2018.003

Abstract

The data set provides GFZ VER13 orbits of altimetry satellites:

ERS-1 (August 1, 1991 - July 5, 1996),
ERS-2 (May 13, 1995 - February 27, 2006),
Envisat (April 12, 2002 - April 8, 2012),
TOPEX/Poseidon (September 23, 1992 - October 8, 2005),
Jason-1 (January 13, 2002 - July 5, 2013) and
Jason-2 (July 5, 2008 - April 5, 2015)

derived at the time spans given at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences (Potsdam, Germany) within the Sea Level phase 2 project of the European Space Agency (ESA) Climate Change Initiative using "Earth Parameter and Orbit System - Orbit Computation (EPOS-OC)" software (Zhu et al., 2004) and the Altimeter Database and processing System (ADS, http://adsc.gfz-potsdam.de/ads/) developed at GFZ. The orbits were computed in the ITRF2014 terrestrial reference frame for all satellites using common, most precise models and standards available and described below.

The ERS-1 orbit is computed using satellite laser ranging (SLR) and altimeter crossover data, while the ERS-2 orbit is derived using additionally Precise Range And Range-rate Equipment (PRARE) measurements. The Envisat, TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, and Jason-2 orbits are based on Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS) and SLR observations. For Envisat, altimeter crossover data were used additionally at 44 of 764 orbital arcs with gaps in SLR and DORIS data.

The orbit files are available in the Extended Standard Product 3 Orbit Format (SP3-c). Files are gzip-compressed. File names are given as sate_YYYYMMDD_SP3C.gz, where "sate" is the abbreviation (ENVI, ERS1, ERS2, JAS1, JAS2, TOPX) of the satellite name, YYYY stands for 4-digit year, MM for month and DD for day of the beginning of the file. More details on these orbits are provided in Rudenko et al. (2018) to which these orbits are supplementary material.

Authors

Rudenko, Sergei;GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany;Deutsches Geodätisches Forschungsinstitut der Technischen Universität München (DGFI-TUM)
Schöne, Tilo;GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
Esselborn, Saskia;GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
Neumayer, Karl Hans;GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany

Contact

Schöne, Tilo; GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany; ➦
Rudenko, Sergei; Deutsches Geodätisches Forschungsinstitut der Technischen Universität München (DGFI-TUM); ➦

Keywords

Altimetry satellite, Low Earth Orbit satellites, ESA CCI Sea Level, sea level, ITRF2014, ERS-1, ERS-2, Envisat, TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, Jason-2, Orbit

GCMD Science Keywords

EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > SEA SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY > SEA SURFACE HEIGHT
EARTH SCIENCE > SOLID EARTH > GRAVITY/GRAVITATIONAL FIELD > SATELLITE ORBITS/REVOLUTION > ORBITAL POSITION
Earth Observation Satellites > ENVISAT
Earth Observation Satellites > ERS Earth Resource Satellite > ERS-1
Earth Observation Satellites > ERS Earth Resource Satellite > ERS-2
Earth Observation Satellites > JASON-1
Earth Observation Satellites > OSTM/JASON-2
Earth Observation Satellites > TOPEX/POSEIDON
Earth Remote Sensing Instruments > Active Remote Sensing > Altimeters > Radar Altimeters