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15 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry Symposium

13-Mar - 18-Mar 2006

Venice, Italy

Fifteen years after the launch of ERS-1 and TOPEX/POSEIDON, the European Space Agency, in collaboration with the French Space Agency, CNES, organised an exceptional Symposium on "15 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry". The event was sponsored by NASA, NOAA, EUMETSAT, IAG, IAPSO, EMS, IOC, and other partner agencies and organisations supporting the development of altimetry. Along with this symposium, three related events took place in the same week, the annual meeting of the Ocean Surface Topography Science Team (OSTST), the International Doris Service (IDS) Workshop and the ARGO Workshop.

OSTST Meeting

The Ocean Surface Topography Science Team (OSTST) meeting, convened by Y. Ménard (CNES) and L.-L. Fu (JPL), was held in the second half of the week and addressed specific issues on the TOPEX/POSEIDON and Jason-1 projects, including algorithm and model improvement, Cal Val activities, merging with other altimetric satellites (GFO, Envisat), preparation of the Jason-2 mission. Because of the obvious relationship with the Symposium, the science presentations of the OSTST PIs and CoIs were given in the Symposium.

IDS Workshop

The International DORIS Service (IDS) workshop, convened by G. Tavernier (CNES), the IDS chairman, took place over 2 days in parallel to the "15 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry" Symposium and fostered dialogue between IDS members and users of the DORIS system, in the area of orbit determination, precise positioning and other application fields. IDS is an international service which provides a support, through DORIS data and products, to geodetic, geophysical, and other research and operational activities. Since 1 July 2003, the International DORIS Service has been officially started as an IAG Service after the decision of the IAG Executive Committee at the IUGG General Assembly in Sapporo.

Argo Workshop

The Argo array of profiling floats is now the most abundant source of temperature/salinity profile data from the global ocean. When combined with satellite altimetry and on its own, Argo is able to address a wide range of environmental and climate issues. In November 2003 there were 1,000 floats operating when Argo held its First Science Workshop in Tokyo. Now the array has almost 2,000 floats and global coverage. By linking with the OSTST, the second Argo Science Workshop benefitted from the synergy between Argo and altimetry. The Workshop discussed results from the wide range of research and operational uses of Argo data and plan for the further exploitation of Argo.

Themes

  • Oceanography
  • Cryosphere
  • Marine geodesy, gravity, bathymetry
  • Hydrology
  • Building the 15 year altimetric record
  • The integrated approach
  • Outreach
  • Outlook: the future of altimetry

Files

Official Welcome by CNES

Official Welcome by ESA

Welcome from the city of Venice

Abstract Book (7,92 MB)

OSTST Meeting Note (RLK file)

IDS Meeting Note (RLK file)

ARGO Meeting Note (RLK file)

Download event programme
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