New instrument for monitoring sea level change

ESA’s Earth observation satellite Sentinel-3A has on its board a new instrument measuring sea surface height and wave height. The Synthetic Aperture Radar Altimeter (SRAL) delivers accurate measurements and provides the Copernicus ocean forecasting systems with data for monitoring the sea level change. The data come with two different time stamps-Near real time (NRT) and Short Time Critical (STC). European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) started to release also the Non-Time Critical data, which are more accurate and thus provide more precise information used in geophysical studies, ocean modeling and sea level monitoring.