Ionospheric correction for SEASAT altimeter height measurement

The ionosphere effect on signal speed, and hence on the SEASAT radar altimeter measurement, is directly proportional to the columnar electron content of the ionosphere. This paper contains a description of the Faraday rotation technique used by the SEASAT project to measure the ionosphere and of the mapping scheme used to map the measurements to the spacecraft location. In addition, it describes the evaluation procedure used for validation and accuracy assessment.