The Harvest Experiment: Calibration of the Climate Data Record from TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1 and the Ocean Surface Topography Mission

We present a 17-year calibration record of precise (Jason-class) spaceborne altimetry from a California offshore oil platform (Harvest). Our analyses indicate that the sea-surface-height (SSH) biases for all three TOPEX/Poseidon (1992–2005) measurement systems are statistically indistinguishable from zero at the 15 mm level. In contrast, the SSH bias estimates for the newer Jason-1 mission (2001–present) and the Ocean Surface Topography Mission (2008–present) are significantly positive. In orbit for over eight years, the Jason-1 measurement system yields SSH biased by +94 ± 15 mm. Its successor, OSTM/Jason-2, produces SSH measurements biased by +178 ± 16 mm.