For more information please also check the CNES Jason News at AVISO.

January 12, 2004

Jason-1 and TOPEX/POSEIDON SSHA Products now available

JPL PO.DAAC is pleased to announce the following new altimetry data products:

Jason-1 Sea Surface Height Anomaly (J1SSHA)
TOPEX/POSEIDON Sea Surface Height Anomaly (TPSSHA)
Jason-1 Along Track Gridded Sea Surface Height Anomaly (J1ATG)
TOPEX/POSEIDON Along Track Gridded Sea Surface Height Anomaly (TPATG)

The SSHA products provide compatible measurements of sea level residuals for both missions, with a much smaller volume than the Geophysical Data Records (GDRs). The data records were edited from the Jason-1 GDR data series and from the combination of Topex/Poseidon MGDR-B and GCP (GDR Correction Product). Data correspond to the 1/second along track GDR positions and contain the following selected parameters: sea surface height above MSS (corrected for all geophysical effects using Jason-1 models), significant wave height, inverse barometer, sigma naught, total electron content, ocean depth, and mean sea surface (MSS).

The ATG products provide the sea surface height anomaly with respect to a MSS and are interpolated along track to a set of common points. This reference track has standard latitude and longitude locations that are the same for every cycle, allowing for a direct cycle by cycle comparison. The ATG products were derived using the SSHA values from the Topex/Poseidon SSHA and Jason-1 SSHA products. In addition, the ionospheric corrections were smoothed by an along track averaging of approximately 50 km on either side of the given location of the iono data point.

Data, documentation, and read software are available via the PO.DAAC anonymous ftp site from the following directories:

ftp://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/sea_surface_height/jason/j1_ssha
ftp://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/sea_surface_height/topex_poseidon/tp_ssha
ftp://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/sea_surface_height/jason/j1_atg
ftp://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/sea_surface_height/topex_poseidon/tp_atg

For more detailed information on these SSHA products, visit http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dcatalog/ssha.html.

PO.DAAC's Near-Real-Time Image Distribution Server (NEREIDS) is now available. NEREIDS provides sea surface temperature, ocean topography, ocean wind, and sea and land ice satellite browse images within a few hours of capture.