Tutorial overview

This Radar altimetry tutorial is organised into six main chapters:

Applications
This chapter describes the main applications of radar altimetry, both current and in development, and is organised according to field of study.
Data use cases
This chapter gives some practical examples of the applications of altimetry data. The type of data to use, the methodology and the main computations are detailed, as well as how to work with data using the Basic Radar Altimetry Toolbox.
Altimetry
This chapter contains background information about altimetry techniques, how data are measured, processed and qualified, as well as the future technology developments being studied.
Altimetry missions
This chapter describes the past, present and future altimetry satellites, with details about the altimetry-related instruments onboard, their orbits and ground segments. This chapter describes the past, current and future altimetry satellites, with details on the altimetry-related instruments onboard, the orbit and ground segment.
Product information
This chapter covers altimetry products (software and documentation as well as data). It also gives access to the Basic Radar Altimetry Toolbox.
FAQs
This chapter contains questions asked about the tutorial and the toolbox, applications, altimetry and products.

In general, the deeper you go into the sub-sections, the more technical the information becomes.

This document is mainly aimed at newcomers to altimetry. For this particular audience, we suggest beginning with a specific field of interest (Geodesy & geophysics, Ocean, Ice, Climate, Atmosphere, wind & waves, Hydrology & land, Coastal), then having a look at the corresponding use cases, if any. The 'Altimetry' section provides more technical information, but for an initial approach you can focus on the section headers, where an overview is given (e.g. How altimetry works : basics).

A sitemap gives a general view of the contents. This can be used as a doorway for advanced and expert users, enabling them to go directly to the technical information.