Data Quality Assessment of Jason-3 Altimeter Data Based on Jason-2 Synchronous Data

In this paper the quality of Jason-3 data was evaluated based on Jason-2 GDR data in the tandem stages. The percentage of data loss and data edition and the daily mean changes of the main physical parameters are calculated for each cycle. The sea surface height discrepancy at the intersection point and the sea level anomaly along the track are analyzed, and the system deviation between Jason-2 and Jason-3 are calibrated. Jason-3 and Jason-2 data have uniform change trend and spatial distribution in significant wave heights(SWH), mean backscattering coefficient, ionosphere delay correction mean values and mean wet tropospheric delay differences between microwave radiometer observations and ECMWF model, and there are systematic deviations between Jason-3 and Jason-2. The standard deviations of the sea surface height bias at the self-intersection of the Jason-3 and Jason-2 are 4.98cm and 4.94cm, respectively. It can be indicated that the accuracy of Jason-3 is comparable to that of Jason-2 with the systematic deviation of 2.93cm.