Decimeter-Level Geolocation Accuracy Updated by a Parametric Tropospheric Model with GF-3

GaoFen-3 (GF-3) is a multi-polarization C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite in China with a resolution of up to 1 m. Up to now, the geolocation accuracy of GF-3 could be improved to 3 m. According to the current study, there still exist meter-level geolocation residuals caused by atmospheric path delay after compensating with a static tropospheric model. In this paper, we compensate the residuals with the sophisticated tropospheric model based on real meteorological data. The experimental results show that the tropospheric model has an accuracy on the millimeter level, which can increase GF-3’s geolocation accuracy to several decimeters compared with the static tropospheric model.