Abstract
Sea level can be monitored using conventional tide gauges, ground-based Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R), and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite altimetry. Each technique has its advantages and disadvantages, so an intercomparison is a good exercise for cross-validation. We analyze the reliability of a standard geodetic-grade GNSS receiver and antenna and two Sentinel-3A SAR products to measure sea level variations in the Gulf of Mexico. We considered a one-year period over a 120 km wide region between an island and mainland, composed of reefs and shallow waters. First, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) observations from a GNSS station (CN26) on the island were analyzed. Second, high-resolution SAR altimetry data (20 Hz) of the Sentinel-3A satellite were acquired based on two processors, SARvatore and Peachi. The above results were compared to a conventional tide gauge located on the mainland at the shoreline of Progreso, Yucatan. The GNSS-R relative sea level had a correlation of 0.84 and root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 7.8 cm with the tide gauge, while SAR altimetry products had a correlation and RMSE of 0.86 12.4 cm for SARvatore and 0.85, 12.8 cm for Peachi. Furthermore, correlation and RMS between GNSS-R and SAR were found to be 0.94, 8.6 cm for SARvatore and 0.95, 7.2 cm for Peachi. Meanwhile, SARvatore and Peachi achieved an internal correlation of 0.92 and RMSE of 8.9 cm. Moreover, scale variations caused by the differences in the tidal range were quantified by linear regression slope with respect to the tide gauge, which amounted to 0.554, 0.843 and 0.814, respectively, for GNSS-R, SARvatore and Peachi. Finally, derived daily GNSS-R observations in conjunction with SAR altimetry were coherent with respect to the reference tide gauge indicating that GNSS-R can operate as an auxiliary validation instrument for SAR altimetry coastal measurements at ungauged locations.
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The data used to support the findings are available from the corresponding author upon request. The Peachi altimetry data and FES2014b tidal model can be accessed from the AVISO + File Transfer Protocol (FTP) database service: ftp-access.aviso.altimetry.fr.
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Acknowledgements
The first author thanks the National Council for Science and Technology (CONACyT) of Mexico for granting a scholarship to accomplish this study (Grant #487690). We would like to thank the UNAVCO support team for the GPS data provided (UNAVCO Community 2016). The tide gauge station (Progreso) data is provided by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO) at http://www.ioc-sealevelmonitoring.org. The Fresnel-zone map was developed using the software tools for GNSS interferometric reflectometry (Roesler and Larson 2018).
Funding
The present work was supported by the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACyT-Mexico).
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The code used to compute FES2014 was developed in collaboration between Legos, Noveltis, CLS Space Oceanography Division and CNES which is available under GNU General Public License and can be freely accessed online at https://bitbucket.org/cnes_aviso/fes.
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Martinez-Felix, C.A., Vazquez-Becerra, G.E., Geremia-Nievinski, F. et al. Tidal measurements in the Gulf of Mexico: intercomparison of coastal tide gauge, insular GNSS reflectometry and SAR altimetry. GPS Solut 26, 22 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10291-021-01207-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10291-021-01207-x