Abstract:
Satellite altimetry from the GEOSAT and the ERS-1 geodetic missions provide altimeter data with a very dense coverage. Hence, the heights of the sea surface can be recovered in great detail. Satellite altimetry from the 35-day repeat cycle mission of the ERS satellites and, especially, from the 10-day repeat cycle TOPEX/POSEIDON satellite mission provide repeated heights, so that the mean sea surface heights along the ground tracks can be recovered very accurately. In this study a global high resolution mean seas surface (1/8 by 1/8 degrees) is constructed using satellite altimetry from those four missions. The mean sea surface fits the TOPEX/POSEIDON mean sea surface heights within 5 cm and the slopes fit within a 2.5 mm per km.