Geometry and Accuracy of Specular Points in GPS-Reflection Altimetry

The sea surface height recovery methods and error analysis of altimetry using GPS reflected signal are explored in this paper. For the case when the receiver is at low altitude positions, the analytical equation of the sea surface height error is obtained; and for the case when the receiver is at high altitude positions, a novel method which has a concise mathematical formulation and efficient solution is proposed. Moreover, the proposed method can obtain more accurate solution than methods currently available in the literature. Analysis and simulation show that the sea surface height error and all the measurement errors are of the same order of magnitude when the elevation angle is high.