Geosat Geodetic Mission Waveform Data Records (WDR) for December, 1985 (NODC Accession 0002557)

This accession contains one month of waveform data records (WDRs) from the GEOSAT Geodetic Mission (GM) and(or) Exact Repeat Mission (ERM) for the time period of December 01, 1985 to December 31, 1985. Parameters include: time, orbit, latitude/longitude, and sea surface height. Corrections to the data include: sea level, wind and wave data, tides, dry and wet troposphere, ionosphere, height bias, altimeter crossover differences, altimeter sea surface measurement, and spacecraft orientation. These data were submitted by the U.S. Navy via National Oceanic Service.

The US Navy Geosat (Geodetic Satellite) radar altimeter mission lasted for nearly 5 years (March 1985 to January 1990) and collected approximately 750 million measurements of sea level, wave height, and wind speed over the global oceans. During the Geodetic Mission (March 1985 to September 1986), the satellite did not repeat its ground track for the duration of the mission. The orbit of the satellite was changed in October 1986 to begin the Exact Repeat Mission (ERM) which lasted from November 8, 1986 until the satellite quit functioning in January 1990. During the ERM, the satellite repeated its ground track every 17 days. Data were initially processed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, MD in coordination with the NOAA/NOS Satellite Altimeter Group. Data products were transferred to the NOAA National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) for distribution. Data products are archived at the NODC.

本数据集收录了1985年12月1日至1985年12月31日期间，GEOSAT测地任务（Geodetic Mission, GM）与（或）精确重复任务（Exact Repeat Mission, ERM）产生的为期一个月的波形数据记录（waveform data records, WDRs）。数据集参数包含：时间、轨道参数、经纬度以及海面高度。数据校正项涵盖：海平面数据、风浪观测数据、潮汐、干对流层与湿对流层校正、电离层校正、高度偏差、测高仪交叉轨迹差值、测高仪海面测量数据以及航天器姿态。本数据集由美国海军通过国家海洋服务局提交。

美国海军GEOSAT（测地卫星）雷达测高任务持续近5年（1985年3月至1990年1月），在全球海洋范围内收集了约7.5亿条海平面、浪高与风速观测数据。在测地任务阶段（1985年3月至1986年9月），卫星在任务周期内不会重复覆盖同一地面轨迹。1986年10月，卫星轨道被调整，以启动精确重复任务（ERM），该任务从1986年11月8日持续至1990年1月卫星停止运行。在ERM阶段，卫星每17天重复一次地面轨迹。数据最初由马里兰州劳雷尔市的约翰·霍普金斯大学应用物理实验室与NOAA/NOS卫星测高仪小组合作处理。数据产品随后被移交至NOAA国家海洋资料中心（National Oceanographic Data Center, NODC）进行分发，最终存档于该中心。