Parameter estimation for peaky altimetric waveforms

Much attention has been recently devoted to the analysis of coastal altimetric waveforms. When approaching the coast, altimetric waveforms are sometimes corrupted by peaks caused by high reflective areas inside the illuminated land surfaces or by the modification of the sea state close to the shoreline. This paper introduces a new parametric model for these peaky altimetric waveforms. This model assumes that the received altimetric waveform is the sum of a Brown echo and an asymmetric Gaussian peak. The asymmetric Gaussian peak is parameterized by a location, an amplitude, a width, and an asymmetry coefficient. A maximum-likelihood estimator is studied to estimate the Brown plus peak model parameters. The Cramér–Rao lower bounds of the model parameters are then derived providing minimum variances for any unbiased estimator, i.e., a reference in terms of estimation error. The performance of the proposed model and the resulting estimation strategy are evaluated via many simulations conducted on synthetic and real data. Results obtained in this paper show that the proposed model can be used to retrack efficiently standard oceanic Brown echoes as well as coastal echoes corrupted by symmetric or asymmetric Gaussian peaks. Thus, the Brown with Gaussian peak model is useful for analyzing altimetric easurements closer to the coast

Modèle semi-analytique pour l'altimétrie SAR/Doppler sur océan

National audienceLe concept de radar altimétrique SAR/Doppler est apparu au milieu des années 90. Cette technologie permet de réduire le bruit de mesure (par augmentation du nombre d’observations) et d’augmenter la résolution le long de la trace (along-track) en utilisant l’information contenue dans la fréquence Doppler. Cet article propose un nouveau modèle semi-analytique, basé sur une approche géométrique, pour modéliser les échos SAR/Doppler. Ce modèle est validé à l’aide de données synthétiques puis à l’aide de données réelles issues du satellite Cryosat-2. Les résultats obtenus sont très prometteurs et montrent le bon fonctionnement du modèle proposé

A Semi-Analytical Model for Delay/Doppler Altimetry and Its Estimation Algorithm

International audienceThe concept of delay/Doppler (DD) altimetry (DDA) has been under study since the mid-1990s, aiming at reducing the measurement noise and increasing the along-track resolution in comparison with the conventional pulse-limited altimetry. This paper introduces a new model for the mean backscattered power waveform acquired by a radar altimeter operating in synthetic aperture radar mode, as well as an associated least squares (LS) estimation algorithm. As in conventional altimetry (CA), the mean power can be expressed as the convolution of three terms: the flat surface impulse response (FSIR), the probability density function of the heights of the specular scatterers, and the time/frequency point target response of the radar. An important contribution of this paper is to derive an analytical formula for the FSIR associated with DDA. This analytical formula is obtained for a circular antenna pattern, no mispointing, no vertical speed effect, and a uniform scattering. The double convolution defining the mean echo power can then be computed numerically, resulting in a 2-D semi-analytical model called the DD map (DDM). This DDM depends on three altimetric parameters: the epoch, the sea surface wave height, and the amplitude. A multi-look model is obtained by summing all the reflected echoes from the same along-track surface location of interest after applying appropriate delay compensation (range migration) to align the DDM on the same reference. The second contribution of this paper concerns the estimation of the parameters associated with the multi-look semi-analytical model. An LS approach is investigated by means of the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. Simulations conducted on simulated altimetric waveforms allow the performance of the proposed estimation algorithm to be appreciated. The analysis of Cryosat-2 waveforms shows an improvement in parameter estimation when compared to the CA

Including antenna mispointing in a semi-analytical model for delay/Doppler altimetry

International audienceDelay/Doppler altimetry aims at reducing the measurementnoise and increasing the along-track resolution in comparison with conventional pulse limited altimetry. In a previous paper, we have proposed a semi-analytical model for delay/Doppler altimetry which considers some simplifications as the absence of mispointing antenna. This paper first proposes a new semi-analytical model for delay/Doppler altimetry. The proposed analytical expression for the flat surface impulse response considers antenna mispointing angles, a circular antenna pattern, no vertical speed effect and a uniform scattering. The two dimensional delay/Doppler map is obtained by a numerical computation of the convolution between the proposed analytical function, the probability density function of the heights of the specular scatterers and the time/frequency point target response of the radar. The approximations used to obtain the semi-analytical model are analyzed and the associated errors are quantified by analytical bounds for these errors. The second contribution of this paper concerns the estimation of the parameters associated with the multi-look semi-analytical model. Two estimation strategies based on the least squares procedure are proposed. The proposed model and algorithms are validated on both synthetic and real waveforms. The obtained results are very promising and show the accuracy of this generalized model with respect to the previous model assuming zero antenna mispointing

A Generalized Semi-Analytical model for delay/Doppler altimetry

International audienceThis paper introduces a new model for delay/Doppler altimetry, taking into account the effect of antenna mispointing. After defining the proposed model, the effect of the antenna mispointing on the altimetric waveform is analyzed as a function of along-track and across-track angles. Two least squares approaches are investigated for estimating the parameters associated with the proposed model. The first algorithm estimates four parameters including the across-track mispointing (which affects the echo's shape). The second algorithm uses the mispointing angles provided by the star-trackers and estimates the three remaining parameters. The proposed model and algorithms are validated via simulations conducted on both synthetic and real data

Measuring ocean surface velocities with the KuROS and KaRADOC airborne near-nadir Doppler radars: a multi-scale analysis in preparation of the SKIM mission, Submitted to Ocean SCience, July 2019

Surface currents are poorly known over most of the oceans. Satellite-borne Doppler Waves and Current Scatterom-eters (DWCS) can be used to fill this observation gap. The Sea surface KInematics Multiscale (SKIM) proposal, is the first satellite concept built on a DWCS design at near-nadir angles, and now one of the two candidates to become the 9th mission of the European Space Agency Earth Explorer program. As part of the detailed design and feasibility studies (phase A) funded by ESA, airborne measurements were carried out with both a Ku-Band and a Ka-Band Doppler radars looking at the sea surface at 5 near nadir-incidence in a real-aperture mode, i.e. in a geometry and mode similar to that of SKIM. The airborne radar KuROS was deployed to provide simultaneous measurements of the radar backscatter and Doppler velocity, in a side-looking configuration , with an horizontal resolution of about 5 to 10 m along the line of sight and integrated in the perpendicular direction over the real-aperture 3-dB footprint diameter (about 580 m). The KaRADOC system has a much narrower beam, with a circular footprint only 45 m in diameter. 10 The experiment took place in November 2018 off the French Atlantic coast, with sea states representative of the open ocean and a well known tide-dominated current regime. The data set is analyzed to explore the contribution of non-geophysical velocities to the measurement and how the geophysical part of the measured velocity combines wave-resolved and wave-averaged scales. We find that the measured Doppler velocity contains a characteristic wave phase speed, called here C 0 that is analogous to the Bragg phase speed of coastal High Frequency radars that use a grazing measurement geometry, with little 15 variations ∆ C associated to changes in sea state. The Ka-band measurements at an incidence of 12 • are 10% lower than the theoretical estimate C 0 2.4 m/s for typical oceanic conditions defined by a wind speed of 7 m/s and a significant wave height of 2 m. For Ku-band the measured data is 1 https://doi. 30% lower than the theoretical estimate 2.8 m/s. ∆ C is of the order of 0.2 m/s for a 1 m change in wave height, and cannot be confused with a 1 m/s change in tidal current. The actual measurement of the current velocity from an aircraft at 4 to 18 • incidence angle is, however, made difficult by uncertainties on the measurement geometry, which are much reduced in satellite measurements

Elements of morphology: Standard terminology for the teeth and classifying genetic dental disorders

Dental anomalies occur frequently in a number of genetic disorders and act as major signs in diagnosing these disorders. We present definitions of the most common dental signs and propose a classification usable as a diagnostic tool by dentists, clinical geneticists, and other health care providers. The definitions are part of the series Elements of Morphology and have been established after careful discussions within an international group of experienced dentists and geneticists. The classification system was elaborated in the French collaborative network 'TÊTECOU' and the affiliated O-Rares reference/competence centers. The classification includes isolated and syndromic disorders with oral and dental anomalies, to which causative genes and main extraoral signs and symptoms are added. A systematic literature analysis yielded 408 entities of which a causal gene has been identified in 79%. We classified dental disorders in eight groups: dental agenesis, supernumerary teeth, dental size and/or shape, enamel, dentin, dental eruption, periodontal and gingival, and tumor-like anomalies. We aim the classification to act as a shared reference for clinical and epidemiological studies. We welcome critical evaluations of the definitions and classification and will regularly update the classification for newly recognized conditions

CAGIRE: a wide-field NIR imager for the COLIBRI 1.3 meter robotic telescope

The use of high energy transients such as Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) as probes of the distant universe relies on the close collaboration between space and ground facilities. In this context, the Sino-French mission SVOM has been designed to combine a space and a ground segment and to make the most of their synergy. On the ground, the 1.3 meter robotic telescope COLIBRI, jointly developed by France and Mexico, will quickly point the sources detected by the space hard X-ray imager ECLAIRs, in order to detect and localise their visible/NIR counterpart and alert large telescopes in minutes. COLIBRI is equipped with two visible cameras, called DDRAGO-blue and DDRAGO-red, and an infrared camera, called CAGIRE, designed for the study of high redshift GRBs candidates. Being a low-noise NIR camera mounted at the focus of an alt-azimutal robotic telescope imposes specific requirements on CAGIRE. We describe here the main characteristics of the camera: its optical, mechanical and electronics architecture, the ALFA detector, and the operation of the camera on the telescope. The instrument description is completed by three sections presenting the calibration strategy, an image simulator incorporating known detector effects, and the automatic reduction software for the ramps acquired by the detector. This paper aims at providing an overview of the instrument before its installation on the telescope.Comment: Accepted by Experimental Astronom

Altimetry for the future: Building on 25 years of progress

In 2018 we celebrated 25 years of development of radar altimetry, and the progress achieved by this methodology in the fields of global and coastal oceanography, hydrology, geodesy and cryospheric sciences. Many symbolic major events have celebrated these developments, e.g., in Venice, Italy, the 15th (2006) and 20th (2012) years of progress and more recently, in 2018, in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, 25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry. On this latter occasion it was decided to collect contributions of scientists, engineers and managers involved in the worldwide altimetry community to depict the state of altimetry and propose recommendations for the altimetry of the future. This paper summarizes contributions and recommendations that were collected and provides guidance for future mission design, research activities, and sustainable operational radar altimetry data exploitation. Recommendations provided are fundamental for optimizing further scientific and operational advances of oceanographic observations by altimetry, including requirements for spatial and temporal resolution of altimetric measurements, their accuracy and continuity. There are also new challenges and new openings mentioned in the paper that are particularly crucial for observations at higher latitudes, for coastal oceanography, for cryospheric studies and for hydrology. The paper starts with a general introduction followed by a section on Earth System Science including Ocean Dynamics, Sea Level, the Coastal Ocean, Hydrology, the Cryosphere and Polar Oceans and the ‘‘Green” Ocean, extending the frontier from biogeochemistry to marine ecology. Applications are described in a subsequent section, which covers Operational Oceanography, Weather, Hurricane Wave and Wind Forecasting, Climate projection. Instruments’ development and satellite missions’ evolutions are described in a fourth section. A fifth section covers the key observations that altimeters provide and their potential complements, from other Earth observation measurements to in situ data. Section 6 identifies the data and methods and provides some accuracy and resolution requirements for the wet tropospheric correction, the orbit and other geodetic requirements, the Mean Sea Surface, Geoid and Mean Dynamic Topography, Calibration and Validation, data accuracy, data access and handling (including the DUACS system). Section 7 brings a transversal view on scales, integration, artificial intelligence, and capacity building (education and training). Section 8 reviews the programmatic issues followed by a conclusion

SKIM, a candidate satellite mission exploring global ocean currents and waves

The Sea surface KInematics Multiscale monitoring (SKIM) satellite mission is designed to explore ocean surface current and waves. This includes tropical currents, notably the poorly known patterns of divergence and their impact on the ocean heat budget, and monitoring of the emerging Arctic up to 82.5°N. SKIM will also make unprecedented direct measurements of strong currents, from boundary currents to the Antarctic circumpolar current, and their interaction with ocean waves with expected impacts on air-sea fluxes and extreme waves. For the first time, SKIM will directly measure the ocean surface current vector from space. The main instrument on SKIM is a Ka-band conically scanning, multi-beam Doppler radar altimeter/wave scatterometer that includes a state-of-the-art nadir beam comparable to the Poseidon-4 instrument on Sentinel 6. The well proven Doppler pulse-pair technique will give a surface drift velocity representative of the top meter of the ocean, after subtracting a large wave-induced contribution. Horizontal velocity components will be obtained with an accuracy better than 7 cm/s for horizontal wavelengths larger than 80 km and time resolutions larger than 15 days, with a mean revisit time of 4 days for of 99% of the global oceans. This will provide unique and innovative measurements that will further our understanding of the transports in the upper ocean layer, permanently distributing heat, carbon, plankton, and plastics. SKIM will also benefit from co-located measurements of water vapor, rain rate, sea ice concentration, and wind vectors provided by the European operational satellite MetOp-SG(B), allowing many joint analyses. SKIM is one of the two candidate satellite missions under development for ESA Earth Explorer 9. The other candidate is the Far infrared Radiation Understanding and Monitoring (FORUM). The final selection will be announced by September 2019, for a launch in the coming decade