CNES activities supporting WideSwath altimetry Prepared by Eric

CNES activities supporting Wide-Swath altimetry Prepared by Eric Thouvenot & Hervé Jeanjean Direction for Strategy and Programs - CNES Wide-Swath altimetry Workshop, October 30 th & 31 st, 2006 /

Past studies (1/2) ■ CNES contribution to WSOA/OSTM-JASON 2 activities w w support to system/performance studies Ph. D grant (Alcatel/CNES LEGOS/JPL cooperation) definition/manufacture of 120 W Ku-band TWTA (Thales) accommodation study (phase A/B) on-board PROTEUS platform Wide-Swath altimetry Workshop, October 30 th & 31 st, 2006 2

Past studies (2/2) ■ CNES/LEGOS activities related to hydrology from space => http: //www. legos. obs-mip. fr/soa/hydrologie/hydroweb/ ■ CNES contribution to Water activities w support to system/performance studies w support to ESA Core Mission proposal => satellite definition => mission/system document submitted to ESA => Contact : Nelly Mognard Wide-Swath altimetry Workshop, October 30 th & 31 st, 2006 3

Current activities (1/2) ■ Alti. Ka related activities w SARAL (Satellite with ARgos & ALti. Ka) Mission : · cooperation between ISRO & CNES · payload module provided by CNES : Alti. Ka (altimeter/radiometer), DORIS, LRA, +ARGOS 3 (all elements in phase C/D) · satellite/launcher provided by ISRO : new SSB (Small Satellite Bus) platform · launch : end 2009, on a 800 -km, 6 am-6 pm SSO, cycle TBD w Back-up solution : Alti. Ka on OCEANSAT 3 satellite (launch : 2012? ) w Alti. Ka PI : Jacques Verron (LEGI); mission group with ~20 -30 people with activities related to : · SARAL ocean performance (in combination with other altimetry missions) for NRT & offline products · Coastal peformance (DIODE/DORIS + on-board along-track DEM coupled with altimeter trackingloop) · Cloud/rain related activities (use of TOPEX/JASON, TRMM & MODIS data for simulation studies) · Study about new products, and associated performance cal/val issues for : – in-land waters – ice sheets w Foreign contributors to Mission Group are welcome w CNES will select Alti. Ka Co-Is through its next OST-ST call Wide-Swath altimetry Workshop, October 30 th & 31 st, 2006 4

Current activities (2/2) ■ Jason 3 related activities w support Eumetsat in the frame of the J 3 Working Groups w two main options : · minimal, low-cost, gap-filler approach (dedicated to ocean) · or, precursor to a series of bigger missions (dedicated to ocean and possibly hydrology, possible WSOA-like instrument) ■ CNES continues to support French laboratories in Wide Swath science & applications w new Ph. D grant at LEGOS ■ Call for phase 0 proposals at CNES in september, 2006 : w ocean/hydrosphere mapper proposal ranked 4 th out of 37 proposals => Phase 0 possible as soon as early 2007 => Possibly followed by phase-A and/or R&D studies in 2007/2008 => Coordination necessary with Eumetsat and US partners Wide-Swath altimetry Workshop, October 30 th & 31 st, 2006 5

Needs for Global, Satellite-based Observations of Terrestrial Surface Waters ■ Where is water stored on Earth’s land surfaces, and how does this storage vary in space and time? What is the global distribution of freshwater runoff delivered to the oceans and what is its inter-seasonal and inter-annual variability? What are the spatial dynamics of floods and how can we predict them? w River discharge , lake and wetland storage of water are critical terms in the surface water balance, but are poorly observed w Gauges are incapable of measuring the diffusive flow conditions and related storage changes for non-channelized flows (wetlands, floodplains) w Declining of the gauging network, hard to maintain w Political and Economic problems ■ Profiling altimetry does not sample all of the world’s fresh water bodies and provides almost no knowledge of wetlands flow ■ Instead of cross-sectional methods, the ideal solution is a spatial measurement of water height from a remote platform Wide-Swath altimetry Workshop, October 30 th & 31 st, 2006 6

Conclusions ■ Ocean and in-land applications of Water, HM, or OSTC missions well within CNES programmatic priorities, as recommended by the scientific community w CNES will bring technical/funding support to the French involved laboratories w Phase 0 (mission/system/satellite) feasible in 2007 ■ In the short term : w “CNES will not contribute to an operational, recurrent Jason 3 mission” w “CNES will bring its experience/expertise to any Jason 2 -FO mission” ■ In the mid-term, CNES could become a partner (subject to funding availability…) in a wideswath mission dedicated to both oceanology and hydrology Wide-Swath altimetry Workshop, October 30 th & 31 st, 2006 7