TOPEX/POSEIDON - Mapping the ocean surface

Global efforts are under way to model the earth as a complete planet so that weather patterns may be predicted on time scales of months and years. A major limitation in developing models of global weather is the inability to model the circulation of the oceans including the geostrophic surface currents. NASA will soon be initiating a satellite program to correct this deficiency by directly measuring these currents using the science of radar altimetry. Measurement of the ocean topography with broad, frequent coverage of all ocean basins for a long period of time will allow the derivation of the spatial and temporal behavior of surface ocean currents. The TOPEX/POSEIDON mission is a cooperative effort between NASA and the French Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales. This paper describes the goals of this research mission, the data type to be acquired, the satellite and sensors to be used to acquire the data, and the methods by which the data are to be processed and utilized.