TOPEX NASA Radar Altimeter

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The dual-frequency NASA radar altimeter, NRA, was the primary instrument aboard the spacecraft. It worked by sending radio pulses at 13.6 GHz and 5.3 GHz toward the earth and measuring the characteristics of the echo. By combining this measurement with data from the microwave radiometer and with other information from the spacecraft and the ground, scientists were able to calculate the height of the sea surface to within 4.3 centimeters.

sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov

Platforms :

Also known as :

• instrumentID 765 (ceos lexicon)
• Instrument TOPEX (ceos lexicon)
• Sensor TOPEX ALTIMETER (podaac lexicon)