User Requirements in the Coastal Ocean for Satellite Altimetry

By providing a large number of sea surface height observations globally and continuously, satellite altimetry provides a key contribution to the study of the global ocean. In coastal oceans, however, the use of altimetry is not as mature as in the deep oceans, owing to a number of problems that are discussed in other chapters of this book. Given that a number of applications in regional and coastal areas would benefit from improved altimetry datasets, there is a clear scope for the development of coast-dedicated altimetry products where processing of the radar signals in the vicinity of the shoreline is optimized with respect to specific problems. The requirements for such products were not predetermined; instead, they have been decided after a consultation with the potential users of the coastal altimetry community carried out within the PISTACH and COASTALT projects in collaboration with CNES and ESA. This chapter describes the collection of users’ views on the basis of two questionnaires developed and distributed by the project teams, and presents the resulting recommendations on the definition of the new coastal altimetry products.