I‘m trying to measure land altitude from Sentinel-3 altimeter (such as min/max altitude above ellipsoid over one footprint of a beam). But when I‘m listing through available operations in BRAT software, they are all dedicated for SEA, ICE, etc.
Can someone give me some hint/link for a manual for LAND use of Sentinel-3 altimeter?
Thank you!
Hi David,
The 'altimeter' on Sentinel-3 is a radar-based instrument dedicated to the measurement of the shape and height of the ocean surface: to my knowledge, it does not provide useful information over land. See, for instance
https://sentinel.esa.int/web/sentinel/user-guides/sentinel-3-altimetry
If you require topographical information over land (i.e., altitude above some reference surface like the reference geoid), you need to focus on other instruments. Search the web for "digital elevation data" and synonyms. Some datasets are freely available, for instance from the USGS:
https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/where-can-i-get-global-elevation-data?qt-news_science_products=0#qt-news_science_products
More detailed data is generally produced by private companies and is available for sale. Before you decide which avenue to pursue, you should define your requirements in terms of spatial coverage and accuracy, and then select the source that matches your needs and your budget.
Good luck, Michel.
All satellites operate in the WGS84 geocentric coordinate system. Land radar is tied to ellipsoids (they can be global or regional). Ocean surface radar is tied to the geoid. In addition, 50% of the sources give not an absolute, but a relative value. could this be the problem?
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