CU sea level system at Platform Harvest

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Abstract
Calibration data for the TOPEX/Poseidon altimeter was collected at Texaco's Platform Harvest off the coast of southern California. The CU sea level system, containing two Paros depth sensors, was designed and installed at Platform Harvest to collect submerged pressure data. Corrections for instrument bias, water density, and atmospheric pressure were applied to each depth sensor and sea level obtained relative to an established benchmark on the platform. Estimates of H 1/3 were determined to characterize the sea state during the 2‐h period surrounding each overflight using classical theory. To test the validity of these assumptions, the ratio between spectra measurements from the upper and lower depth sensors was normalized by the expected theoretical ratio. The results differ from theory by ∼1% with a standard deviation of ∼2%. The weighted mean frequency as a function of H 1/3 was calculated during several overflight periods. Results indicate that the frequency content tends to be bimodal for H 1/3 values below 2.5 m.