Articles | Volume 10, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-281-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-281-2018
Review article
 | 
12 Feb 2018
Review article |  | 12 Feb 2018

An improved and homogeneous altimeter sea level record from the ESA Climate Change Initiative

Jean-François Legeais, Michaël Ablain, Lionel Zawadzki, Hao Zuo, Johnny A. Johannessen, Martin G. Scharffenberg, Luciana Fenoglio-Marc, M. Joana Fernandes, Ole Baltazar Andersen, Sergei Rudenko, Paolo Cipollini, Graham D. Quartly, Marcello Passaro, Anny Cazenave, and Jérôme Benveniste

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Cited articles

Ablain, M. and Legeais, J.-F.: Data Processing Model for the SL_cci system, Ref. CLS-DOS-NT-13-248, nomenclature SLCCI-DPM-33, available at: http://www.esa-sealevel-cci.org/webfm_send/239 (last access: 7 February 2018), 2014.
Ablain, M., Larnicol, G., Faugere, Y., Cazenave, A., Meyssignac, B., Picot, N., and Benveniste, J.: Error Characterization of Altimetry Measurements at Climate Scales, in: Proceedings of the “20 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry” Symposium, Venice, 24–29 September 2012, Italy, edited by: Benveniste, J. and Morrow, R., ESA Special Publication SP-710, available at: http://www.congrexprojects.com/docs/12c01_docs/20ypra_abstracts_12_08_27_v9.pdf (last access: 7 February 2018), 2012.
Ablain, M., Legeais, J. F., Prandi, P., Fenoglio-Marc, L., Marcos, M., Benveniste, J., and Cazenave, A.: Satellite altimetry-based sea level at global and regional scales, Surv. Geophys., 38, 9–33, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-016-9389-8, 2017.
Barnier, B., Madec, G., Penduff, T., Molines, J.-M., Treguier, A.-M., Le Sommer, J., Beckmann, A., Biastoch, A., Böning, C., Dengg, J., Derval, C., Durand, E., Gulev, S., Remy, E., Talandier, C., Theetten, S., Maltrud, M., McClean, J., and De Cuevas, B.: Impact of partial steps and momentum advection schemes in a global ocean circulation model at eddy-permitting resolution, Ocean Dynam., 56, 543–567, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-009-0180-y, 2006.
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Short summary
Sea level is one of the best indicators of climate change and has been listed as one of the essential climate variables. Sea level measurements have been provided by satellite altimetry for 25 years, and the Climate Change Initiative (CCI) program of the European Space Agency has given the opportunity to provide a long-term, homogeneous and accurate sea level record. It will help scientists to better understand climate change and its variability.
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