Blending 2D topography images from SWOT into the altimeter constellation with the Level-3 multi-mission DUACS system
Gérald Dibarboure, Cécile Anadon, Frédéric Briol, Emeline Cadier, Robin Chevrier, Antoine Delepoulle, Yannice Faugère, Alice Laloue, Rosemary Morrow, Nicolas Picot, Pierre Prandi, Marie‐Isabelle Pujol, Matthias Raynal, Anaëlle Tréboutte, Clément Ubelmann
Abstract
Abstract. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission delivers unprecedented swath altimetry products. Despite SWOT’s 2D coverage and precision, its Level-2 products suffer from the same limitations as their counterparts from nadir altimetry missions. Level-2 products are designed in a standalone ground-segment to meet the mission’s primary science objectives. In contrast, some research domains and applications require consistent multi-mission observations such as the Level-3 products provided by the Data Unification and Altimeter Combination System (DUACS) for almost 3 decades, and with 20 different satellites. In this paper, we describe how we extended the Level-3 algorithms to handle SWOT’s unique swath-altimeter data. We also illustrate and discuss the benefits, relevance, and limitations of Level-3 swath-altimeter products for various research domains.