Estimation of a mean sea surface reference in the WRELADS airborne depth sounder.

The determination of an accurate mean sea surface reference is an essential step in any system seeking to provide accurate measurements of sea depth. Algorithms developed to achieve this for the laser-based airborne depth sounder wrelads are presented, and their performance under extensive testing of that system is assessed. They are shown to generate successfully an accurate mean sea surface reference under a wide range of conditions that might be expected operationally. Use of this analysis as a diagnostic tool in monitoring other aspects of the performance of the depth sounding hardware is also discussed.