Assessment of Sentinel-3 altimeter performance over Antarctica using high resolution digital elevation models

Phillips, Joe and McMillan, Malcolm (2026) Assessment of Sentinel-3 altimeter performance over Antarctica using high resolution digital elevation models. Cryosphere, 20 (3). pp. 1745-1769. ISSN 1994-0416

Abstract

Since 2016, the Sentinel-3 satellites have provided a continuous record of ice sheet elevation and elevation change. Given the unique, operational nature of the mission, and the planned launch of two additional satellites before the end of this decade, it is important to determine the performance of the altimeter across a range of ice sheet topographic surfaces. Whilst previous studies have assessed elevation accuracy, more detailed investigations of the underlying instrument and processor performance are lacking. This study therefore examines the performance of the Sentinel-3 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) altimeter over the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS), utilising new detailed topographic information from the Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (REMA). Applying Singular Value Decomposition to REMA, we firstly develop new self-consistent Antarctic surface slope and roughness datasets. We then use these datasets to assess altimeter performance across different topographic regimes, targeting a number of key steps in the altimeter processing chain. We also evaluate the impact of topography upon waveform decorrelation. For the new Sentinel-3 Thematic Product, we find that, for 94.1 % of acquisitions, the point of closest approach to the satellite is successfully captured within the range window – an improvement of ∼ 5 % compared to the previous non-thematic (BC-004) product. For both products, performance declines with increasing topographic complexity, which also limits the ability to record all backscattered energy within the beam footprint. We estimate that 57.4 % of the ice sheet exhibits greater topographic variance within the footprint than can be captured by the range window, and that the current window placement captures a median of 89.2 % of the total possible topography that could be recorded. These findings provide a better understanding of the performance of the Sentinel-3 altimeters over ice sheets, and can guide the design and optimisation of future satellite missions such as the Copernicus Polar Ice and Snow Topography Altimeter (CRISTAL) and the Sentinel-3 Next Generation Topography mission.