Effect of skewness and kurtosis of sea-surface elevations on the accuracy of altimetry surface level measurements

We assess the influence of changes in the skewness and kurtosis of the distribution of elevations on a rough sea surface that were observed in field conditions on the accuracy of the recovery of the sea-surface level along the satellite trace. For different values of a significant height of surface waves, we obtain numerical estimates for the bias in relief recovery due to the simultaneous variation in skewness and kurtosis. It is shown that, with a decrease in kurtosis, the effect of skewness changes on the accuracy of altimetry measurements of the level increases. We note the limitations of the Gram-Charlier model in simulating the radar waveforms return from the sea surface.