# Synthetic Aperture Radar Altimeter (SRAL)
*component . products*

Sentinel-3 synthetic-aperture radar altimeter; stored as component because current D1 sensor schema lacks a Ku/C radar-altimeter branch.

## Specifications
- **manufacturer**: thales-alenia-space
- **product status**: operational
- **deployment context**: orbital
- **entity type**: component
- **last verified date**: 2026-06-16
- **verified by**: agency-doc
- **claim status**: agency-sourced
- **provider**: thales-alenia-space
- **attributes**: {"kind":"component","manufacturer":"thales-alenia-space","product_status":"operational","deployment_context":"orbital","description":"Sentinel-3 synthetic-aperture radar altimeter; stored as component because current D1 sensor schema lacks a Ku/C radar-altimeter branch."}
- **relevance**: in-scope

## Editorial
SRAL, the Synthetic Aperture Radar Altimeter, is the Sentinel-3 altimeter used for surface topography measurements.[^sentiwiki-s3-altimetry-instruments][^s3-sral-land-handbook][^wmo-sral] It flies on Sentinel-3B and represents the Sentinel-3 altimeter design flown across the series.[^sentiwiki-s3-altimetry-instruments][^wmo-sral] SRAL uses a 13.575 GHz Ku-band channel for range measurements and a 5.41 GHz C-band channel for dual-band ionospheric correction.[^sentiwiki-s3-altimetry-instruments][^s3-sral-land-handbook][^wmo-sral] After early commissioning, the instrument operates continuously in SAR delay-Doppler mode except for punctual calibration sequences.[^s3-sral-land-handbook] Its measurement scope covers ocean and ice topography, significant wave height, wind speed, inland-water hydrology, sea ice, and land-ice thematic products.[^sentiwiki-s3-altimetry-instruments][^s3-sral-land-handbook][^wmo-sral]

## Compositional position
- sentinel-3b (missions) --[mission_payloads]--> Synthetic Aperture Radar Altimeter (SRAL)

## Sources
- [sentiwiki-s3-altimetry-instruments] | Sentinel-3 altimetry instruments, SentiWiki | https://sentiwiki.copernicus.eu/web/s3-altimetry-instruments | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-16
- [s3-sral-land-handbook] | Sentinel-3 SRAL/MWR Land User Handbook 2024 | https://sentiwiki.copernicus.eu/__attachments/1672112/S3MPC-STM_RP_0038%20-%20Sentinel-3%20SRAL%20Land%20User%20Handbook%202024%20-%201.2.pdf?inst-v=99e2e3c7-405b-4cbe-addc-f37f3beedcc0 | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-16 | published=2024-01-08
- [wmo-sral] | WMO OSCAR instrument record: SRAL | https://space.oscar.wmo.int/instruments/view/sral | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-16

---
Source: https://eo-atlas.org/products/component/sral
Maintainer: SpectraWorks B.V. (CC-BY 4.0)