Abstract:

To enhance the resolution of recovery of marine gravity field from satellite altimeter, we proposed a new twin-satellites altimetry mode in this paper. A detailed orbit design is also presented following the basic requirements of satellite’s orbit design. It is also demonstrated that the 1 min marine altimetry gravity field can be derived to satisfy the requirement of high resolution. The observation of twin-satellite will cover most of the oceans and seas of the Earth. Besides the sea surface height observations, the new model will provide two components of deflection of verticals along the track, which will contribute to the improvement of accuracy of marine altimetry gravity field.

Key words: Satellite altimetry, marine altimetry gravity field, sea surface slope