Independent Validation of Jason-2/3 and HY-2B Microwave Radiometers Using Chinese Coastal GNSS

Validating the wet path delay (WPD) is essential to determining satellite microwave radiometer errors that may deteriorate sea level measurement accuracy. The global navigation satellite system (GNSS) is a favored method for assessing WPD for altimetry. Over Chinese coastal waters, however, validations have not been performed, primarily because of the large gaps between International GNSS Service sites. Herein, we report a long-term assessment of the Jason-2/3 radiometers and the initial performance of the Chinese HY-2B radiometer via comparisons of WPD values derived from three types of GNSS networks along the Chinese coast. A new method based on the second-order derivative of WPD along satellite tracks was developed to detect where land contamination first appears. The results indicate that this method is more sensitive to land influences; the distance at which land contamination first appears was estimated to be approximately 40–50 km over the China coast sea. To compare the WPD at different heights, such as GNSS sites and sea level surface, an exponential function containing the corresponding decay coefficients was adopted. The WPD decay coefficients for each GNSS site were recalculated using the 3-D ERA5 pressure level fields instead of the empirical value of 2000. The results show that the new coefficient may reduce the differences between WPD values at different heights. This WPD comparison over Chinese coastal waters indicates average WPD differences of 3 (Jason-2) and −1 mm (Jason-3), showing a high level of consistency between the GNSS sites and the satellite radiometers. The uncertainties in the WPD differences were estimated to be 14–21 and 7–24 mm for the Jason-2/3 and HY-2 radiometers, respectively, which is consistent with previous studies using global GNSS. After removing the GNSS uncertainty and the spatial decorrelation, the WPD uncertainties of the Jason-2, Jason-3, and HY-2 radiometers over the regional area were estimated to be 13, 14, and 11 mm, respectively. The long-term evaluation of the WPD differences with the GNSS sites indicates that the drift rates of the Jason-2/3 radiometers over China coast waters are 0.3 and −0.9 mm/y, respectively.