SAR ALTIMETRY PROCESSING ON DEMAND SERVICE FOR CRYOSAT-2 AND SENTINEL-3 AT ESA G-POD

摘要

The scope of this work is to feature the new ESA service (SARvatore) for the exploitation of the CryoSat-2 data, designed and developed entirely by the Altimetry Team at ESA-ESRIN EOP-SER (Earth Observation – Exploitation, Research and Development). The G-POD Service, SARvatore (SAR Versatile Altimetric Toolkit for Ocean Research & Exploitation) for CryoSat-2, is a web platform that provides the capability to process on-line and on-demand CryoSat-2 SAR/SARIN data, from L1a (FBR) data products until SAR/SARIN Level-2 geophysical data products.. The Processor will make use of the G-POD (Grid-Processing On Demand) distributed computing platform to deliver timely the output data products. These output data products are generated in standard NetCDF format (using CF Convention), and they are compatible with BRAT (Basic Radar Altimetry Toolbox) and other NetCDF tool. Using the G-POD graphic interface, it is easy to select the geographical area of interest along with the time-frame of interest, based on the Cryosat-2 SAR/SARIN FBR data products availability in the service's catalogue. After the task submission, the users can follow, in real time, the status of the processing task. The processor prototype is versatile in the sense that the users can customize and adapt the processing, according their specific requirements, setting a list of configurable options. The processing service is meant to be used for research & development experiments, to support the development contracts awarded confronting the deliverables to ESA, on site demonstrations/training in training courses and workshops, cross-comparison against third party products (CLS/CNES CPP Products for instance), preparation for the Sentinel-3 Topographic mission, producing data and graphics for publications, etc. So far, the processing has been designed and optimized for open ocean studies and is fully functional only over this kind of surface but there are plans to augment this processing capacity over coastal zone, inland water and over land in view of maximizing the exploitation of the upcoming Sentinel-3 Topographic mission over all surfaces. The service is open and free of charge.