Satellite radar altimeters are the primary sensor that has been used to monitor how global mean sea level changes over time. This issue has important implications for our understanding of the impact of climate change. In order to enable precise measurements of mean sea level evolution, it is important to reduce the errors associated with the measurement technique. One of the primary sources of error, called the EM bias, involves the basic process by which an altimeter pulse is scattered from the rough sea surface. In this study, scientists and mathematicians at Ohio State University will develop new mathematical algorithms to describe the non-linear evolution of the sea surface and this will be coupled with numerical electromagnetic scattering algorithms to predict altimeter returns. The project will bring together and extend the state-of-the-art in numerical algorithms for the evolution of the sea surface as well as electromagnetic scattering from rough surfaces. These techniques are relevant for many applications and thus the study will have an impact across a range of applications including radar physics, computational fluid dynamics and sensor instrumentation as well as physical oceanography.
