Meet the Sentinel-6 Team

Remko Scharroo, Copernicus Sentinel-6 programme scientist at EUMETSAT, has been working on Sentinel-6 right from the start.

“This mission is a bit like my baby - I have been involved from the get-go, so I am very excited it is about to fly!” Remko said.

Once launched and commissioned, Sentinel-6 will measure sea-level rise with unprecedented accuracy of within 1mm per year (we currently measure an average sea-level rise of 3mm per year). The measurements will be so accurate, in fact, that scientists will be able to distinguish why sea level is rising in certain areas.

The mission will also contribute to oceanography so that we better understand ocean circulation (with improved accuracy and resolution), as well as the magnitude of wind speeds and wave heights.

The sea-level observations will also be used in hurricane models to help predict hurricane intensity and trajectories.

Currently, EUMETSAT provides data from the Jason-3 and Sentinel-3 altimetry missions for such applications. Sentinel-6 will take over from Jason-3 by the end of 2021 and provide better measurements, as its instruments are more sophisticated and more accurate than Jason-3 with several new features. One of these is high-resolution altimetry, which significantly reduces the measurement “noise”, making it much more precise than in the past. The digital altimeter hardware and external radiometer calibrator will make it a more stable reference to measure sea level rise in fine detail.

For Remko, the biggest challenge so far in the Sentinel-6 project was to get everything ready within an ambitious timeframe, especially defining the product and making the specifications to have them implemented and tested.

“I am very driven to make sure we get the best for our users, and that we don’t just provide “a product” but the exact product that the users are looking for,” Remko said. “This is what is so fulfilling”.

For more on the mission, visit the dedicated Copernicus Sentinel-6 microsite .