Component · products

SAR Interferometer Radar Altimeter (SIRAL)

Missions → CryoSat-2 (Extended operations)

Ku-band SAR/interferometric radar altimeter on CryoSat-2, optimised for ice-sheet elevation and sea-ice freeboard measurements.

SIRAL, the SAR Interferometer Radar Altimeter, is the Ku-band radar altimeter flown on CryoSat-2.^[1]^[2]^[3] It operates at 13.575 GHz, with WMO listing a 350 MHz bandwidth, and provides CryoSat-2 with a single-frequency radar-altimetry measurement system.^[1]^[2]^[3] SIRAL supports low-resolution nadir altimetry, SAR mode, and SAR interferometric mode using two cross-track-aligned antennas.^[1]^[2] Those modes let CryoSat-2 measure ice-sheet elevation and sea-ice freeboard while also supporting ocean dynamic topography, significant wave height, and wind speed over sea.^[1]^[2] Radar altimetry is demonstrated through SIRAL's CryoSat-2 service record.^[1]

Operator pricing

Pricing not publicly listed by operator

Supply chain position

carried by CryoSat-2

Sources

[1]WMO OSCAR instrument record: SIRALagency doc2026-06-16
[2]AVISO+ CryoSat instruments: SIRAL altimeteragency doc2026-06-16
[3]CryoSat Product Handbook, ESA Earth Onlineagency doc2026-06-16

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Plain text

SAR Interferometer Radar Altimeter (SIRAL). EO-Atlas, SpectraWorks B.V. https://eo-atlas.org/products/component/siral (CC BY 4.0)

BibTeX

@misc{eoatlas:products:component:siral,
  title = {SAR Interferometer Radar Altimeter (SIRAL)},
  author = {{EO-Atlas}},
  publisher = {SpectraWorks B.V.},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
  url = {https://eo-atlas.org/products/component/siral}
}