XPLOITATION

W AVEFORMS R ETRACKING STARTING

FROM L EVEL 2 SGDR S

prepared by/prpar par

Salvatore Dinardo ESA EOP-SER

reference/reference

ENVI-DTEX-EOPS-TN-08-0001

issue/dition

1.0

date of issue/date ddition

30 January 2009

status/tat
Document type/type de document

Technical Note

Distribution/distribution

a
ESRIN
Via Galileo Galilei - Casella Postale 64 - 00044 Frascati - Italy
Tel. (39) 06 941801 - Fax (39) 06 94180 280

page 2 of 21

T A B L E

O F

C O N T E N T S

SUMMARY...........................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................4

2.1

Definitions, Acronyms, Abbreviations........................................................................4

2.2

Applicable Documents.................................................................................................4

2.3

Reference Documents..................................................................................................4

2.4

Auxiliary Files .............................................................................................................5

RA2 LEVEL 2 SGDR 18 HZ WAVEFORMS MDS...............................................6

3.1

18 Hz Waveforms MDSR Format ...............................................................................6

3.2

Output Retracking Values............................................................................................9

3.3

USO Drift Correction ................................................................................................20

SUMMARY.........................................................................................................21

SUMMARY

The Radar Altimeter on ENVISAT (RA-2) is fully redundant, nadir pointing, pulse limited radar
operating at two frequencies in Ku and S band. The main geophysical parameters obtained by a
radar altimeter are the range (or altitude), significant wave height and backscattering coefficient.
These parameters, among others, are obtained by processing the received radar waveforms once
transmitted on ground. Here the waveforms are retracked, that means that a group of non-linear
processing estimation techniques are used to determine the error in the telemetered range resulting
from the fact that the radar altimeter on-board system is not always able to maintain the echo
waveform at the nominal tracking position in the filter bank.
The retracking is performed in the ground segment on the waveforms samples available in the
RA2/MWR Level 1b products, RA2 main MDS (i.e. once the IF filter mask and other
instrumental corrections have been applied).
At Level 2 stage, four different specialized retrackers are run in parallel over all surfaces: ocean
retracker, ice1 retracker, ice 2 retracker and sea-ice retracker. The main output of Level 2 is GDR
product: it exist in three versions FDGDR (Fast Delivery GDR), IGDR (Intermediate GDR), and
GDR. They essentially represents the same product, the main difference among them laying in their
temporal availability and therefore in the different quality of the corrections (geophysical or
engineering calibration). Both FDGDR and IGDR are intermediate products. The FDGDR is
produced in less than 3 hours and then replaced by the IGDR (after 3-5 days, depending on the
availability of the preliminary Doris orbit). This, in turn, is substituted by the GDR (after 50 days,
depending on the availability of the precise Doris orbit). The GDR is generated by applying the
same processing as for FDGDR (the four retrackers are re-run) on the Level 1B waveforms
corrected for long term instrument errors, i.e. IF calibration, USO drift.
Nevertheless, some users have required performing their own retracking, so the SGDR product was
designed to supply both the GDR level output, including the four retrackers, and the necessary input
for custom retracking, including the waveforms. One MDS inside the SGDR products (i.e. 18 Hz
waveforms MDS), contain the waveforms samples at the same L1b rate, along with the necessary
other parameters.
The SGDR is generated from the consolidated Level 1B (waveforms corrected for long term
instrument variations) and from GDR (same geophysical corrections). Therefore, the main
advantage of using SGDRs is the fact that they are OFL products obtained using the best available
DORIS orbit. This ensures the best geophysical corrections inside the RA2 MDS.
This note aims at clarifying how to perform the retracking from SGDR and discusses the pros and
cons of using SGDRs for retracking purposes as opposed to the retracking performed using the L1b
RA2 MDS.
NB: The results from this note should be included in the next version of the RA2/MWR PH such
that users are fully informed on the limitations and potentialities of the different RA2/MWR product
levels, when used as input for retracking.

page 4 of 21

INTRODUCTION

2.1 Definitions, Acronyms, Abbreviations

DPM

Detailed Processing Model

ENVISAT

ESA Earth Observation Satellite (see http://envisat.esa.int/)

MDS

Measurement Data Set

MDSR

Measurement Data Set Record

RA-2

The ENVISAT 2nd Generation Radar Altimeter

SGDR

RA-2/MWR Sensor Geophysical Data Record (Product ID: RA2_MWS_2P)

SWH

Significant Wave Height

MPH

Main Product Header

SPH

Specific Product Header

L2

Level 2

2.2 Applicable Documents

Download sites for documents:
http:/earth.esa.int/pub/ESA_DOC/ENVISAT/
http://envisat.esa.int/instruments/ra2/
Download site for auxiliary data files: (ftp://ftp.esrin.esa.it/pub/RA2_MWR/aux_data/current)
Download for USO Correction Files: (http://earth.esa.int/ers/pub/RA2_MWR/USO/auxdata/)
E-mail: eohelp@esa.int

2.3 Reference Documents

1. ESA (2006) PO-RS-MDA-GS-2009, Product Specification Vol 14 (RA-2/MWR), Issue 3 Rev. O
(http://earth.esa.int/pub/ESA_DOC/ENVISAT/Vol14_Ra2mwr_3O.pdf)
2. ESA (2007) RA-2 MWR Product Handbook (http://envisat.esa.int/dataproducts/ra2-mwr/)
3. ENVISAT RA-2 web site (http://envisat.esa.int/instruments/ra2/)
4. ESA (2006) RA-2 MWR Level 2 User Manual
(ftp://earth.esa.int/pub/ESA_DOC/ENVISAT/RA2/PH_light_1rev2_ESA.pdf)
5. CNES (2001) SMM-ST-M2-EA-11005-CN; J.P. Dumont, P. Sicard, J. Stum, O.Z. Zanife:
"Algorithm definition, accuracy and specification - Volume 4: CMA altimeter level 2 processing"
(http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/jason/documents/ADAS_Vol4.pdf)

page 5 of 21

6. CLS 1997. CLS.OC/NT/96.038 RA2/MWR LOP. Algorithms Definition and Accuracy

7. ESA 2000. PO-RS-MDA-GS-2009. Envisat-1 Products Specifications, Volume 16: Auxiliary
Data Files, Issue 3, Rev. G
(http://earth.esa.int/pub/ESA_DOC/ENVISAT/Vol16_Aux_data_files_3g.pdf)
8. ESA 2005. PO-RS-MDA-GS-2009 . Envisat-1 Products Specifications, Annex A: Product Data
Conventions, Issue 3, Rev. E
(ftp://earth.esa.int/pub/ESA_DOC/ENVISAT/AnnexA_Data_Convention_3e.pdf )

2.4 Auxiliary Files

In this section is reported the list of auxiliary files referenced to in this note and retrievable from
repository ftp://ftp.esrin.esa.it/pub/RA2_MWR/aux_data/current.
The description of the format of such files is given in the document RD 1.
Ra2 Instrument RA2_CHD_AXVIEC20060913_074707_20020101_000000_20200101_000000.gz
Characterization
Data File
Ra2 Constants RA2_CST_AXVIEC20020621_135858_20020101_000000_20200101_000000.gz
Data File
Platform
File

Data RA2_PLA_AXVIEC20060331_181823_20020101_000000_20200101_000000.gz

Ocean/Ice2
Configuration
System File

RA2_SOI_AXVIEC20051003_170000_20020101_000000_20200101_000000.gz

page 6 of 21

3 RA2 LEVEL 2 SGDR 18 HZ WAVEFORMS MDS

This section aims at giving some guidelines on the format of the Level 2 SGDR 18 Hz waveforms
MDSR.
The following paragraphs will explain in detail the meaning of each single field stored in the 18
Hz Waveforms MDSR inside the SGDRs (prod id = RA2_MWS_2P).

3.1 18 Hz Waveforms MDSR Format

The 18 Hz waveforms MDSR is detailed below (see Table 14.5.2.7.3-1 and Table 14.5.2.7.3-2 page
99 in RD 1):

Figure 1: 18 Hz Waveforms MDSR

page 7 of 21

Figure 2: Format of Data Block Information Structure

Data Block Information Structure contains a block of information repeated 20 times, once for each
data block (i.e. at 18 Hz rate, corresponding to the L1b Data Block rate).
Note that the record fields not in Data Block Information Structure (i.e. time stamp, quality
indicator and source packet counter) are at 1 Hz rate.
To reconstruct the time corresponding to each 18 Hz Data Block a simple linear interpolation
centred on 1 Hz time can be applied:

i 0.5
time _ 18Hz (i, n) = time _ 1Hz (n) + [time _ 1Hz (n + 1) time _ 1Hz (n)]

N
Where:
i=-N/2-1,, N/2
N=20
time_18Hz(i,n) = i-th time at 18Hz rate for n-th record
time_1Hz(n) = time at 1Hz rate for n-th record

page 8 of 21

Here follow the explanations concerning each of the 18 Hz fields inside Data Block Information
Structure:

Field 1: Ku Band Waveforms

This field is composed of the 128 samples obtained by averaging 100 Ku waveforms once corrected
for the IF filter. These are the same waveforms stored in the L1b products.
The center of the filter bank, to which the Delta Offset and the L1b window time delay are
referenced, is bin 63 in sample numbering from 0 to 127.

Field 2: DFT Ku Samples

These are the two band filters from DFT, once corrected for the IF filter. These are the same
samples stored in the Level 1b products. These two extra bins are added to the Ku band 128
samples for improving the accuracy in the retrieval of the main L2 retracking outputs.

Field 3: S Band Waveforms

This field is composed of the 64 samples obtained by averaging 25 S waveforms, once corrected for
the IF filter. These are the same waveforms stored in the L1b products.
The center of the filter bank, to which the Delta Offset and the L1b window time delay are
referenced, is bin 31 in sample numbering from 0 to 63.

Field 4: DFT Samples Indexes

These are the indexes corresponding to the samples in field 2.These are the same values stored in
the L1b products.

Field 5: Delta Offset (Delta_Offset)

This is the offset of the on-board reference tracking point with respect to the centre of the FFT filter
bank, which is the nominal position around which the waveform leading edge will be centered. It is
referred always to the centre of the tracking window and is expressed as a number of FFT filters (it
has units 1/256). As such, it has to be conveniently scaled accounting for the current Ku bandwidth
(320, 80 or 20 MHz) or S Band (160 MHz).

Field 6: Spare

Field 7: Noise Power Measurement (NPM)

page 9 of 21

This is the on-board measured noise power value corrected for a NPM scaling factor in 1/2048
units.
This value, during the Level 2 processing, is processed as follows (in FFT power unit):
NPM
NPM =
10
2048

( AGC _ NPM AGC _ Ku ) 1

100

10

where AGC_NPM (AGC of the noise power ) is estracted at field 38 and AGC_Ku (AGC value
for Ku band) at field 22 in main L1b MDSR, both in 1/100 power db units.
The old NPM is estracted from field 37 in the L1b main MDSRs in 1/2048 units.
Furthermore, an independent value of the thermal noise is estimated at Level 2 by averaging
the power in a set of range filters in the early part of the waveforms.
The absolute average power of the echo is determined. If this power is smaller than a multiple of
the noise power, the echo is regarded as not valid and no retracking is performed on that
waveform.
The ground algorithm has been envisaged such that from these two available noise power
estimated values (i.e. the one taken from L1b and the one calculated at Level 2 by averaging the
power in the early part of the waveform), the second one is used always for the retracking.
Therefore, the NPM value inside this field is at the end not used at all for the retracking.

Field 8: AGC of Noise Power Measurement

This is the AGC of the noise power corrected for the non-linearity of the AGC attenuator. This is
used, as explained in the previous paragraph, to convert the NPM into the correct units, but its
not used at the end for retracking purposes.

Field 9: Reference Power Value

This is the on-board AGC power reference value and is not used at all during the Level 2
processing.

Field 10: Spare

3.2 Output Retracking Values

In following section, we shall analyse how to obtain the three main geophysical parameters:
range, backscattering coefficient and significant wave height from 18 Hz waveforms MDSR.

page 10 of 21

3.2.1 OCEAN RANGE ESTIMATE

The Delta Offset value for Ku band is used as follows in order to calculate the Offset value:
Delta _ Offset Chirp _ Sl _ Ku

Offset _ Ku =

256

Chirp _ Sl _ Ku 3

where Chirp_Sl_Ku is the selected chirp slope to be selected according to "Chirp_ID" identifier
among the values Chirp_Sl_Ku1, Chirp_Sl_Ku2 , Chirp_Sl_Ku3. These values can be extracted
from the Characterization auxiliary file respectively at field 30, 31 , 32
The nominal values for Ku chirp slope are:
1001 / 999 for Chirp_Sl_Ku1 in KHz/microsec (20 MHz Bandwidth)
3998 / 3997 for Chirp_Sl_Ku2 in KHz/microsec (80 MHz Bandwidth)
15994 / 15991 for Chirp_Sl_Ku3 in KHz/microsec (320 MHz Bandwidth)
As you see, for each bandwidth two values are reported. The right value has to be selected
according the RFSS subsystem redundancy Flag (RV_RFSS_Def)).
The RV_RFSS_Def is reported in Level 2 FD/I/S/GDR SPH (see field 22 in table 14.5.1.6.1 of RD
1): in case "A", first value has to be selected, in case "B" second value has to be selected.
The Ku "Chirp_ID" identifier at 18 Hz rate can be found at field 122 in Level 2 FD/I/S/GDR RA-2
MDSR.
In this field, the first 40 least significant bits (bits 0-39) correspond to the 20 elementary (at 18 Hz)
values (2 bits per data block); bits 0 and 1 (last two bits) apply to first data block (reverse
order).Unused bits are set to 0. For bit numbering, see RD 8.

The Chirp_Sl_Ku is selected according following logics:

Chirp_ID = 0 (Bandwidth 320) => Chirp_Sl_Ku=Chirp_Sl_Ku3,
Chirp_ID = 1 (Bandwidth 80) => Chirp_Sl_Ku=Chirp_Sl_Ku2,
Chirp_ID = 2 (Bandwidth 20) => Chirp_Sl_Ku=Chirp_Sl_Ku1.
Therefore, in substance, the Delta_Offset has to be divided by 1 or 4 or 16 if Chirp_ID=0 or 1 or 2
and then scaled properly.
Similarly, since there is only one Delta_Offset value calculated on-board, for band S:

page 11 of 21

Delta _ Offset Chirp _ Sl _ S

Offset _ S =

256

Chirp _ Sl _ Ku 3

where Chirp_Sl_S is extracted from the Characterization auxiliary file respectively at field 33.
The nominal value for Band S Chirp Slope is:
-7997 / 7996 in KHz/microsec (160 MHz Bandwidth)
As you see, for each bandwidth two values are reported. The right value has to be selected
according the RFSS subsystem redundancy Flag (RV_RFSS_Def)).
Since the Level 2 processing applies the Delta offset parameter on the waveforms from the L1b
product, that are mirrored with respect to the L0 ones, a negative delta offset shall imply that the
echo has moved on the left, while a positive offset shall move the echo on the right.

The nominal value for Delta_Offset is 4608.

This means that for ocean (Chirp ID=0) the nominal value of Offset_Ku will be -18.
For Chirp_ID=1 the value of Offset_Ku will be 4.5 filters from the center of the waveform and for
Chirp_ID=2 is 1.125
For S Band, because the Bandwitdh is 160 MHz, the nominal Offset_S value is -9.
The predefined tracking gate for band Ku is given by:
Cs _ Abs = ( Abs _ Num _ Offset 1) + Offset _ Ku
Abs_Num_Offset is the center of filter and is reported in Ocean/Ice2 Configuration System File at
field 6 on A11 GADS . Its default values is 64.
Hence, the default value of predefined tracking gate is 45 for band Ku and Chirp_ID = 0.
Analogously for S band.
The numbering of waveform range bins for Ku band is done according the following rule :

S _ Ku (i ) = i 1
where i is the i-th waveform sample ranging between i=1,NS_Ku_FFT where NS_Ku_FFT is the
number of Ku band FFT samples stored at field 2 on A11 GADS of Ocean/Ice2 Configuration

page 12 of 21

System File. The default value of Ns_Ku_FFT is 128; therefore, for default the numbering ranges
between 0 and 127
S_Ku is refered to as real value abscissa or simply abscissa for Ku band
Analogously for S band.

The values of Offset_Ku will be used to obtain the non corrected Tracker Range in following
way:

Trac ker_ Range _ Ku =

Window _ Delay _ Ku
+ Offset _ Ku FFT _ step _ Ku
1012

where:
Window_Delay_Ku is the window or echo delay for Ku band and rappresents the rx distance
computed on board. It is always referred to the centre of the tracking window.

It is stored at field 20 in L1B Main MDS in picoseconds and is converted in seconds by scaling for
1012.
FFT_step_Ku is the sampling interval of the FFT given in seconds by:

10 3
FFT _ step _ Ku =
Pulse _ Length Chirp _ Sl _ Ku

Pulse_Length is radar pulse length (nominal value 20 microsec) and it is stored at field 25 in the
Instrument Characterization file in picoseconds units. In order to express FFT_step_Ku in seconds,
since Chirp_Sl_Ku is stored in KHz/microsec, a 103 factor is used.

Analogously for S band.

The tracker ranges are then corrected for the Satellite CoG to antenna phase centre distance and
decorrected from the Doppler effect as calculated at L1b stage as follows
(Corrected_Tracker_Range):
Corrected _ Trac ker_ Range _ Ku =

where:

c
Trac ker_ Range _ Ku Doppler _ Corr _ Ku + Ant _ CoG _ Dist
2

page 13 of 21

c is the speedlight expressed in m/s that can be extracted from Constants Data File at field 5
Ant_CoG_Dist is the Satellite CoG to antenna phase centre distance in meters that can be extracted
from Platform Data File at field 2 (nominal value is 1.00537 m). This value (actually, the z
component) has not changed since launch since the z-component of this distance has not changed
significantly after satellite manoeuvres or fuel consumption.
Doppler_Corr_Ku is the Doppler compensation term for Ku band as calculated by L1B processor.
It is stored in L1b data at field 35 in picoseconds.

It must be converted in meters by:

Doppler _ Corr _ Ku =

Doppler _ Corr _ Ku c
2
1012

Analogously for S band.

The corrected_tracker_range_Ku (and corrected_tracker_range_S) are stored at 18 Hz rate in the

Level 2 FD/I/S/GDR RA-2 MDSR at field 13 for Ku Band and field 14 for S Band in mm.

Now, in order to obtain the Retracked Range for band Ku in ocean mode, the following equation
shall be used (in meters):

Re tracked _ Range _ Ku _ Ocean = Corrected _ Trac ker_ Range _ Ku + Updated _ Corr _ Ku +

c
+ Epoch _ Ku _ Ocean
2
where:
Epoch_Ku_Ocean is the reference point of the waveform with respect to the tracking point (or
Offset_Ku), as coming out of the waveforms retracking algorithm in ocean mode.
Updated_Doppler_Corr_Ku is the Doppler correction for Ku band recalculated at L2 stage if a
new satellite height rate is available (i.e. if OFL processing is performed), or just set equal to the
L1b value (Doppler_Corr_Ku in the corrected_tracker_range_Ku equation) in NRT processing.

In OFL processing mode, the Updated_Doppler_Corr is calculated in meters as:

Updated _ Doppler _ Corr _ Ku =

c 10 3
Sat _ Alt _ Rate
Wavelength _ Ku Chirp _ Sl _ Ku

where:
Wavelength_Ku is the Ku band radar wavelength stored in field 38 in Chacterization File in 10-6 m
and selected according to the operating RF subsystem (flag RV_RFSS_Def).

page 14 of 21

Sat_Alt_Rate is the istantaneous height rate in m/sec computated using CFI software and stored at
field 11 in Level 2 FD/I/S/GDR RA-2 MDSR in mm/sec.

Both in OFL and in NRT mode, the Update_Doppler_Corr_Ku is stored at field 35 at 18 Hz rate in
Level 2 FD/I/S/GDR RA-2 MDSR in mm.
This means that in NRT mode is possibile to retrieve exactly the window delay information by
inverting previous equations from L2 data.
The Ku band ocean retracked range are then averaged using a linear regression algorithm.
Analogously for S band.
The Retracked_Range_Ku_Ocean (and Retracked_Range_S_Ocean) are stored at 18 Hz rate in
the Level 2 FD/I/S/GDR RA-2 MDSR at field 19 for Ku Band and field 20 for S Band in mm.
Instead, in field 17 and 18 in the Level 2 FD/I/S/GDR RA-2 MDSR are stored the linear regressionAveraged Retracked Range (1 Hz) in ocean mode respectively for Ku band and S band in mm.

To compute the retracked range for Band Ku without any retracking algorithm correction in ocean
mode (Raw Range) at 18 Hz rate, it is possible to use the following formula:

Range_Raw_Ku_Ocean = field13+ field35

where :
field13= 18Hz Ku tracker range referenced to the COG (no Doppler correction)
field35= 18 Hz Ku-Band Updated Doppler Compensation
In order to achieve the Retracked Range, to Range Raw has to be added the band Ku Epoch in
ocean mode calculated from average Band Ku waveforms stored at field 1 in Block Information
Structure in Level 2 SGDR 18 Hz Waveforms MDSR by least square retracking algorithm and
multiplied for c/2.
The initial value for Ku_Epoch in ocean mode is calculated according to :

T _ 0 _ Ku = S _ 0 _ Ku ( ABS _ NUM _ Offset 1 + Offset _ Ku ) FFT _ step _ Ku

S_0_Ku is the greatest abscissa between [Ew_First, Ew_Last ] such as Vn_Ku(S_0_Ku)<Th_Ampl

where:
Th_Ampl is the normalized amplitude threshold for epoch initialisation in ocean case and it is
reported at field 13 of A22 GADS in Ocean/Ice2 Configuration System File. For it four values are
reported depending on bandwith:
- one value for the CHIRP_ID=0, Band Ku

page 15 of 21

- one value for the CHIRP_ID=1, Band Ku

- one value for the CHIRP_ID=2, Band Ku
- one value for the band S

Ew_First and Ew_Last are respectively the abscissa of first and last asample for estimation window
in ocean case. They are reported respectively at field 8 and 9 of A22 GADS in Ocean/Ice2
Configuration System File. For both four values are reported depending on bandwith:

Vn_Ku is the normalized waveform computated as :

Vn _ Ku =

V _ Ku[ S _ Ku (i )] Therm _ Noise _ Ocean _ Ku

V _ Max _ Ku Therm _ Noise _ Ocean _ Ku

where Therm_Noise_Ocean_Ku is computated from an arithmetic average of samples:

V _ Ku[S _ Ku (i)]
Therm _ Noise _ Ocean _ Ku =
1
i

where S_Ku(i) is between [Tn_First_O, Tn_Last_O] where Tn_First_O, Tn_Last_O are

respectively the abscissas of the first and last sample for noise computation in ocean case. They are
reported respectively at field 5 and 6 of A22 GADS in Ocean/Ice2 Configuration System File. For
both four values are reported depending on bandwith.
Instead, V_Max_Ku is computated as follows:

V _ Ku[ S _ Ku (i )]

V _ Max _ Ku = Max j i

i 1

where where the Max function turns on j such as S_Ku(j) is between [Ew_First, Ew_LastAw_Width] and the summations turn on i such as i is between [S_Ku(j), S_Ku(j)+Aw_Width]
where Aw_Width is the width of the amplitude window in ocean case and it is reported at field 7 of

page 16 of 21

A22 GADS in Ocean/Ice2 Configuration System File. For it four values are reported depending on
bandwith.
The initial value for SigmaC for Ku band is SigC_Def where SigC_Def is the default value of
SigmaC for ocean case. It is reported at field 14 of A22 GADS in Ocean/Ice2 Configuration System
File. For it four values are reported depending on bandwith.
The initial value for amplitude in Band Ku is Wf_Ampl where Wf_Ampl is the weighting factor for
amplitude estimation for ocean case.It is reported at field 12 of A22 GADS in Ocean/Ice2
Configuration System File. For it four values are reported depending on bandwith.

The final output of retracking algorithm will be S_RETRK_Ku ranging between 0 and
NS_Ku_FFT -1.
S_RETRK_Ku will be a real number and not anymore integer.
The Band Ku Epoch will be:

Epoch _ Ocean _ Ku = S _ RETRK _ Ku ( ABS _ NUM _ Offset 1 + Offset _ Ku ) FFT _ step _ Ku

Furthermore, the algorithm estimates the SigmaC for Ocean in Band Ku, SigmaC_Ocean_Ku and
the normalized amplitude for Ocean in Band Ku Ampl_Norm_Ocean_Ku.
This epoch has to be converted in meters, multiplying for c/2:

Range _ Epoch _ Ocean _ Ku = Epoch _ Ocean _ Ku c / 2

It has to be added to raw range in order to estimate the retracked range between COG of satellite
and the ocean surface.
At the end of retracking algorithm, attention should be paid to rescale the amplitude in output by :
Ampl _ Ocean _ Ku = Ampl _ Norm _ Ocean _ Ku (V _ Max _ Ku Therm _ Noise _ Ocean _ Ku )

Analogously for S band.

3.2.2 OCEAN SIGMA0 ESTIMATE

In case of Ku band, in order to obtain the sigma0 value, the L2 processor uses the scaling factor
stored at field 25 in Level 1b main MDSR.

page 17 of 21

It represents the power scaling factor, computed at L1b processor, to be applied to the Ku
waveforms samples to retrieve the Ku band L2 sigma0 values. It takes in count radar equation and
instruement AGC.
This value is reported as well in the Level 2 FD/I/GDR RA-2 MDSR in 1/100 power db units at
field 68 at 18 Hz rate.
The sigma0 scaling factor in L1b stage is computated in power db as:

64 2
Sigma0_ Scale_Ku = AGC_Ku +10log10 (Pulse_ Length Chirp_ Sl _Ku )+10log10
+
2
c Wavelength_Ku

H
G _Tx _ Rx _Ku 2 Ga_Ku +10log10H 3 1+
R

where:
AGC_Ku is the on-board attenuation corrected for instrument errors for Ku band.
G_Tx_RX_Ku is the overall gain of the Tx-Rx chain extracted from the Characterization File at
field 8 expressed in 1/100 power db units (it has to be converted in power db units).
Ga_Ku is the antenna gain extracted from the Characterization File at field 4 expressed 1/100
power db units (it has to be converted in power db units).
H is the 18 Hz satellite altitude in meters. It can be retrieved as from field 9 (1 Hz Altitude of
COG above reference ellipsoid) and field 10 (18 Hz Altitude Differences with respect 1 Hz
Altitude) in Level 2 FD/I/GDR RA-2 MDSR by following formula:

H_18Hz=field9+field10
Note that the fields 9 and 10 are expressed in mm and have to be converted in meters.
R is the semi-major axis of WGS84 ellispoid extracted from the Constants Data File at field 1 in
meters.

For G_Tx_RX_Ku parameter four value are available in Characterization File; they have to be
selected according to RFSS Subsytem Redundany Flag (RV_RFSS_Def) and HPA Subsystem
Redundancy Flag (RV_HPA_Def) values.
For the retrievement of RV_RFSS_Def, see 3.2.1 section of this note; for the retrievement of
RV_HPA_Def, it is reported in Level 2 FD/I/S/GDR SPH (see field 23 in table 14.5.1.6.1 of RD 1).
As for RV_RFSS_Def, two values are available for RV_HPA_Def: "A" or"B".
The value for G_Tx_RX_Ku is selected according following logics:
1 value if RV_HPA_Def="A" and RFSS_Def="A"
2 value if RV_HPA_Def="A" and RFSS_Def="B"
3 value if RV_HPA_Def="B" and RFSS_Def="B"

page 18 of 21

4 value if RV_HPA_Def="B" and RFSS_Def="A"

In order to compute AGC_Ku by previous equation, sigma0 scaling factor has to be converted in
power db units, wavelenght_Ku in meters, Pulse_Length in seconds and Chirp Slope in Hz/sec.
Accordingly, from 68 field in the Level 2 FD/I/S/GDR RA-2 MDSR is possible to retrieve the
AGC_Ku.
Analogously for S band.
Afterwards, in ocean mode, the Sigma0 value for Ku band will be calculated as:
Sigma0_Ocean_Ku = Sigma0_Scale_Ku + 10log10(Ampl_Ocean_Ku)
where:
Ampl_Ocean_Ku is the amplitude or level of useful signal of the waveform (thermal noise
excluded), as coming out of the retracking for ku band in ocean mode.

It should be calculated as from average Band Ku waveforms stored at field 1 in Block Information
Structure in Level 2 SGDR 18 Hz Waveforms MDSR by least square retracking algorithm
Afterwards, all valid elementary Ku ocean measurements are averaged in order to achieve:

Mean _ Sigma 0 _ Ocean _ Ku =

Sigma0 _ Ocean _ Ku (i)

i

Num _ Sigma0 _ Ocean _ Ku

where:
Num_Sigma0_Ocean_Ku is number of valid elementary Ku ocean sigma0 measurements.

Finally, the mean sigma0 value is corrected by:

Corr _ Sigma0 _ Ocean _ Ku = Mean _ Sigma0 _ Ocean _ Ku + Att _ Sigma0 _ Ocean _ Ku

where:
Att_Sigma0_Ocean_Ku is the calculated at L2 stage atmospheric attenuation in power db.

The Att_Sigma0_Ocean_Ku is stored at field 88 in the Level 2 FD/I/GDR MDSR in 1/100 power
db units.
The corrected sigma0 value for Ku band in ocean mode is stored at field 72 in the Level 2
FD/I/S/GDR RA-2 MDSR in 1/100 power db units.
Analogously for S band.

page 19 of 21

3.2.3 OCEAN SIGNIFICANT WAVE HEIGHT

For Ku band the ocean significant wave height is calculated in meters by:

SWH _ Ocean _ Ku = 2 c SigmaC _ Ocean _ Ku 2 PTR _ Width _ Ku 2

if |SigmaC_Ocean_Ku|>|PTR_Width_Ku|
Otherwise:

SWH _ Ocean _ Ku = 0
where:
SigmaC_Ocean_Ku is the width of waveform leading edge or composite sigma in seconds; it is
one of the retracking algorithm output.

It should be calculated as from average Band Ku waveforms stored at field 1 in Block Information
Structure in Level 2 SGDR 18 Hz Waveforms MDSR by least square retracking algorithm
PTR_Width_Ku is given in seconds by:

PTR _ Width _ Ku =

Wf _ PTR _ Width
FFT _ Step _ Ku
10 8

where:
WF_PTR_Width is the factor for PTR width computation that can be extracted from
Characterization File at field 40 in 10-8 seconds units.

Its nominal value in Characterization File is 0.53108.

Instead, the averaged ocean SWH for Ku band is calculated in meters as:

Mean _ SWH _ Ocean _ Ku = 2 c Mean _ SigmaC _ Ocean _ Ku 2 PTR _ Width _ Ku 2

where:
Mean _ SigmaC _ Ocean _ Ku =

SigmaC _ Ocean(i) _ Ku
i

Num _ SigmaC _ Ocean _ Ku

where:
Num_SigmaC_Ocean_Ku is number of valid elementary Ku ocean sigmaC measurements.

page 20 of 21

The Mean_SWH_Ocean_Ku value is stored in field 54 in the Level 2 FD/I/GDR MDSR in mm

units.
Analogously for S band.

3.3 USO Drift Correction

All relevant information for USO drift correction and relative auxiliary files can be retrieved from
http://earth.esa.int/ers/pub/RA2_MWR/USO/auxdata/ repository.

page 21 of 21

4 SUMMARY
The final conclusion is the following: the retracked geophysical parameters (mainly range, sigma0
and SWH) can be obtained directly from two MDSs (i.e. RA2 1 Hz and 18 Hz waveforms) inside
the SGDR products (prod id= RA2_MWS_2P) in alternative to the use of the Level 1b products
(prod id= RA2_MW__1P). Furthermore, some additional parameters as AGC Ku and Window
Delay Ku can be retrieved as well.