A preliminary evaluation of the absolute backscatter calibration of the ERS-1 altimeter using a passive technique

Author

Greco, Bruno ; Castracane, Paolo ; Pierdicca, Nazzareno ; Martini, Annalisa ; Ciotti, Piero ; Marzano, Frank Silvio

Author_Institution

Eur. Space Agency/ESRIN, Frascati, Italy

Volume

6

fYear

2001

fDate

2001

Firstpage

2772

Abstract

This paper focuses on the determination of receiver gain and offset of the ERS-1 radar altimeter, operated in listen-only mode over few orbits. The determination is carried out by examining the receiver response over different types of earth surfaces against concurrent measurements of other radiometers and an ocean emission model. The results are discussed, and it is shown how this technique can be refined to support the determination of the absolute backscattering coefficient, if the transmitted power and the antenna characteristics are known

Keywords

calibration; geophysical equipment; geophysical techniques; oceanographic equipment; oceanographic techniques; remote sensing by radar; spaceborne radar; terrain mapping; 13.8 GHz; ERS-1; Radar Altimeter; SHF; absolute backscatter calibration; absolute backscattering coefficient; geophysical measurement technique; instrument; land surface; ocean; offset; radar altimetry; radar remote sensing; receiver gain; receiver response; sea surface; spaceborne radar; terrain mapping; Antenna measurements; Backscatter; Calibration; Earth; Extraterrestrial measurements; Orbits; Radar; Radiometers; Sea measurements; Sea surface;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2001. IGARSS '01. IEEE 2001 International

Conference_Location

Sydney, NSW

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7031-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IGARSS.2001.978158

Filename

978158