Inverse Barometer Correction in Satellite Altimetry and Its Effect on Mean Sea Level Change

We study the characteristic of global mean atmosphere pressure, and point out the shortcoming of traditional inverse barometer (IB) correction of satellite altimetry. Then, three kinds of inverse barometer corrections are compared in detail based on T/P altimeter data. Compared to the constant referenced IB and global mean value referenced IB, the DAC model based IB correction which high frequency signal is considered shows best, which can reduce the RMS of crossover difference 5.70 mm, and improve the fitting mean square error in sea level change 18% and 12% relative to the constant referenced IB corrected SSH and global mean value referenced IB corrected one, respectively.