Precise geolocation of water bodies in SWOT HR InSAR data

Inhalt:
SWOT is an interferometric SAR mission in Ka-band, projected for launch in 2020. It will provide precise height estimates over ocean, and also detect and estimate the height and slope of continental water surfaces. Due to SWOT’s particular radiometric and geometric characteristics, the restituted geolocated heights are very noisy at full resolution. To achieve the required precision, massive averaging is necessary. A method is proposed to improve the horizontal geolocation and thereby facilitate the use of the height estimates for continental water surfaces, based on the detected water mask and some assumptions about the water surface slope.