CORRECTIONS FOR ALTIMETER LOW-LEVEL PROCESSING AT THE EARTH OBSERVATION DATA CENTER

Many corrections are required to turn the echo time delay measured by a satellite radar altimeter firstly into a range measurement and then into a surface height measurement. This paper describes the instrumental, satellite, atmospheric and surface corrections supplied with the ERS-1 Waveform Product available from the U.K. Earth Observation Data Centre. The mathematical and physical basis for the corrections, and the algorithms used to drive them, are described, together with an assessment of the associated errors.