Dear Colleagues,

Please consider submitting an a= bstract to this dedicated Precision Orbit Determination session organized a= t the 2026 OSTST<= /a>, to be held in Wiesbaden, Germany, 22-26 June 2026= . The deadline for abstract submission is April 3, 2026.

Our splinter’s descriptio= n:

Precision orbit determination u= nderpins the accuracy and quality of the data for all altimeter missions. W= ith a thirty-year long altimeter record from six missions on the reference = orbit (TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, Jason-2/OSTM, Jason-3, Sentinel-6A/B) and from several others on lower orbits (ERS, Envi= sat, CryoSat-2, HY-2A/-2B/-2C/-2D, SARAL/AltiKa, Sentinel-3A/B, SWOT), the = focus is now on the long-term stability of the orbit solutions and on the i= mpact of geographically correlated errors on both the global and regional Mean Sea Level estimates.

The most critical issues concer= n the stability of the reference frame for computing the orbits, the accura= cy and fidelity of the force models that underpin the POD computations and = the overall quality of the available tracking data. We monitor closely the performance of the tracking systems = onboard the current flight missions (especially Jason-3 and Sentinel-6) but= we are also interested in the general performance of the SLR, DORIS, and G= NSS networks used for orbit determination. The stability of the reference frame and the tracking systems, and the con= sistency between the orbits produced by the different geodetic techniques c= ontributes to the error budget for the altimetric data and the science prod= ucts. The new reference frames realizations for ITRF2020 show improvement with respect to ITRF2014, and we are especia= lly interested in their application to satellite altimetry POD for each of = the techniques. Each of the geodetic techniques has systematic errors that = impact the measurements which affect the POD stability and accuracy on both the short- and the long-term. With = the stringent radial orbit accuracy requirements, the refinement of the sat= ellite force and measurement modelling continues to be essential.

We encourage papers that discus= s the latest models that are applicable for satellite altimetry POD given t= he operational constraints of latency and the timely delivery of GDR produc= ts. The POD splinter brings together POD specialists with altimetry users so that the two communities can inter= act. POD specialists gather during the splinter to discuss their latest res= ults but they are also there to answer questions from the community. The go= al of the POD splinter is to ensure that spurious orbit-related signals do not contaminate the altimetric prod= ucts on medium-term or long-term time scales, and to help ensure that altim= etric data across different missions from different orbits can be compared = and combined in a seamless fashion.

We are looking forward to discu= ssing with you in Wiesbaden!

On behalf of the co-chairs of t= he session,

Alex Conrad, Alexandre Couhert,= Frank Lemoine and Carlos Fern=E1ndez Mart=EDn