SIRAL: the radar altimeter for CryoSat mission, under development

Author

Rey, L. ; De Château-Thierry, P. ; Phalippou, L. ; Mavrocordatos, C. ; Francis, R.

Author_Institution

Alcatel Space Industrie, Toulouse, France

Volume

3

fYear

2002

fDate

24-28 June 2002

Firstpage

1768

Abstract

SIRAL (SAR Interferometer Radar Altimeter) is the new spaceborne altimeter designed for CryoSat mission. The instrument is currently in the development phase, in ALCATEL SPACE, which encompasses an Engineering Model and a Flight Model. This ESA mission, planned for 2004, will be used to estimate - on a global scale - the fluctuations in mass of sea-ice and land-ice. This paper discusses the flexibility of the instrument and in particular its capability to operate in various modes (conventional altimeter, SAR and interferometer modes), and gives main results from the pre-developments and breadboard activities.

Keywords

glaciology; hydrological equipment; hydrological techniques; oceanographic equipment; oceanographic techniques; remote sensing by radar; sea ice; spaceborne radar; synthetic aperture radar; 13.575 GHz; ALCATEL SPACE; CryoSat; ESA mission; Ku-band; SAR; SAR Interferometer Radar Altimeter; SHF; SIRAL; glacier; glaciology; ice sheet; instrument; measurement technique; ocean; radar altimetry; radar remote sensing; sea ice; spaceborne altimeter; spaceborne radar; synthetic aperture radar; Frequency; Instruments; Pulse measurements; Reflector antennas; Sea ice; Space charge; Spaceborne radar; Synthetic aperture radar; Telephony; Transmitting antennas;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2002. IGARSS '02. 2002 IEEE International

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7536-X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IGARSS.2002.1026248

Filename

1026248