Validation of Chinese HY-2 satellite radar altimeter significant wave height

Chinese Haiyang-2(HY-2) satellite is the first Chinese marine dynamic environment satellite. The dual-frequency (Ku and C band) radar altimeter onboard HY-2 has been working effective to provide operational significant wave height (SWH) for more than three years (October 1, 2011 to present).We validated along-track Ku-band SWH data of HY-2 satellite against National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) in-situ measurements over a time period of three years from October 1, 2011 to September 30, 2014, the root mean square error (RMSE) and mean bias of HY-2 SWH is 0.38 m and (–0.13±0.35) m, respectively. We also did cross validation against Jason-2 altimeter SWH data,the RMSE and the mean bias is 0.36m and (–0.22±0.28) m, respectively. In order to compare the statistical results between HY-2 and Jason-2 satellite SWH data, we validated the Jason-2 satellite radar altimeter along-track Ku-band SWH data against NDBC measurements using the same method. The results demonstrate the validation method in this study is scientific and the RMSE and mean bias of Jason-2 SWH data is 0.26 m and (0.00±0.26) m, respectively. We also validated both HY-2 and Jason-2 SWH data every month, the mean bias of Jason-2 SWH data almost equaled to zero all the time, while the mean bias of HY-2 SWH data was no less than –0.31m before April 2013 and dropped to zero after that time. These results indicate that the statistical results for HY-2 altimeter SWH are reliable and HY-2 altimeter along-track SWH data were steady and of high quality in the last three years. The results also indicate that HY-2 SWH data have greatly been improved and have the same accuracy with Jason-2 SWH data after April, 2013. SWH data provided by HY-2 satellite radar altimeter are useful and acceptable for ocean operational applications.