Jason-CS/Sentinel-6 GNSS Radio Occultation Instrument Overview and Performance
Presenter:
Chad Galley
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Cal Tech
JPL and EUMETSAT (Axel Von Engeln)
Talk
Jason-CS/Sentinel-6 is a partnership between EUMETSAT, European Space Agency, NOAA, and NASA/JPL to continue high precision ocean altimetry measurements in the 2020–2030 time-frame, using two identical satellites, one launched in late 2020 and the other in late 2025. As a secondary mission, both spacecraft will host a JPL radio occultation instrument. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory will supply the RO instruments based on the Cosmic-2 heritage design including the use of high gain antennas with beam forming to improve overall accuracy across the Earth’s limb. The Sentinel-6 orbit is 1330 km within an inclination of 66 degrees, providing a complementary view of Earth’s atmosphere relative to the COSMIC-2 constellation. The mission will produce a variety of RO data products, including a near real time product from JPL, on a 3-hour latency, available for numerical weather prediction (for example by NOAA and ECMWF). JPL and EUMETSAT will both deliver more refined, climate-focused products with a 60-day latency. This paper will discuss the partnering arrangements, the mission objectives and architecture, the RO error budgeting and expected performance, RO calibration and validation plans, and plans for generation and dissemination of RO data products through both the NASA/NOAA channels and through the European EUMETSAT channels.
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