Altimeter sampling characteristics using a single satellite

Abstract

Altimetric satellites have characteristic sampling patterns in both space and time based on their repeat period and orbit inclination. Aliased phenomena measured by altimetric measurements can appear as propagating waves with both wavelength and direction of propagation different from the underlying phenomena. All signals that contribute to the altimetric measurement can be aliased and produce such patterns, not just tidal signals. For example, mesoscale energy will be aliased as will unmodeled atmospheric variations. Past discussions of aliasing have only considered spatially homogeneous signals. This paper extends this work to phenomena with finite wavelengths and considers both the north-south and east-west components of the resulting aliases.