Long-Term Stability Of Geoidal Geopotential FromTopex/Poseidon Satellite Altimetry 1993–1999

The TOPEX/POSEIDON (T/P) satellite altimeter data from January 1, 1993to October 24, 1999 (cycles 11–261) was used for investigating thelong-term variations in the geoidal geopotential W0 and/orin the geopotential scale factor R0 = GM/W0 (GM is theadopted geocentric gravitational constant). The mean valuesdetermined for the whole period covered are: W0 =(62 636 856.161 ± 0.002) m2 s-2, R0 =(6 363 672.5448 ± 0.0002) m. The actual accuracy is limited bythe altimeter calibration error (2–3 cm) and it isestimated to be about ± 0.5 m2 s-2 (± 5 cm).The yearly variations of the above mean values are at the formalerror level. No long-term trend in W0, representing the oceanvolume change, was found for the seven years period 1993–9 on thebasis of T/P altimeter (AVISO) data. No sea surface topography modelwas used in the solution.