SWOT Level 2 KaRIn Low Rate Sea Surface Height Data Product - Basic, Version D

(SWOT_L2_LR_SSH_BASIC_D)

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Version	D
Processing Level	2
Start/Stop Date	2022-Dec-16 to Present
Short Name	SWOT_L2_LR_SSH_BASIC_D
Description	The SWOT Level 2 KaRIn Low Rate Sea Surface Height Basic Data Product from the Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission provides global sea surface height and significant wave height observations derived from low rate (LR) measurements from the Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn). SWOT launched on December 16, 2022 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California into a 1-day repeat orbit for the "calibration" or "fast-sampling" phase of the mission, which completed in early July 2023. After the calibration phase, SWOT entered a 21-day repeat orbit in August 2023 to start the "science" phase of the mission, which is expected to continue through 2025. The L2 sea surface height data product is distributed in one netCDF-4 file per pass (half-orbit) covering the full KaRIn swath width, which spans 10-60km on each side of the nadir track. Sea surface height, sea surface height anomaly, wind speed, significant waveheight, and related parameters are provided on a geographically fixed, swath-aligned 2x2 km2 grid (Basic, Expert, Windwave). The sea surface height data are also provided on a finer 250x250 m2 "native" grid with minimal smoothing applied (Unsmoothed). This collection is a sub-collection of its parent: https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/SWOT_L2_LR_SSH_D It provides the "Basic" file from each L2 SSH product, which contains a limited set of variables and is aimed at the general user.
DOI	10.5067/SWOT-SSH-D
Measurement	OCEANS > SEA SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY > SEA SURFACE HEIGHT OCEANS > OCEAN WAVES > SIGNIFICANT WAVE HEIGHT
Swath Width	120 km
Platform/Sensor	SWOT Platform Name: Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) / KaRIn SENSOR Name: Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn) SWOT Platform Name: Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) / Jason-class Altimeter SENSOR Name: Jason-class Altimeter (Jason-class Altimeter) SWOT Platform Name: Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) / AMR SENSOR Name: Advanced Microwave Radiometer (AMR) Swath Width: 18.7 ghz Description: The operating frequency which is aimed towards recovery of atmospheric attenuation due to sigma0 Swath Width: 23.8 ghz Description: The operating frequency which is aimed towards recovery of atmospheric attenuation due to water vapor Swath Width: 34.0 ghz Description: The operating frequency which is aimed towards recovery of atmospheric attenuation due to cloud liquid water. SWOT Platform Name: Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) / DORIS SENSOR Name: Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS) SWOT Platform Name: Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) / GPSP SENSOR Name: Global Positioning System Payload (GPSP) SWOT Platform Name: Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) / LRA SENSOR Name: Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) Show More
Project	Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT)
Data Provider	Publisher: JPL NASA Creator: Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) Release Place: Jet Propulsion Laboratory Release Date: 2025-May-13 Resource: https://swot.jpl.nasa.gov/
Format	netCDF-4

Questions related to this dataset? Contact podaac@podaac.jpl.nasa.gov

Resolution Spatial Resolution: 2 Kilometers x 2 Kilometers Coverage Region: GLOBAL North Bounding Coordinate: 90 degrees South Bounding Coordinate: -90 degrees West Bounding Coordinate: -180 degrees East Bounding Coordinate: 180 degrees Time Span: 2022-Dec-16 to Present Swath Width: 120 km Projection Ellipsoid: WGS 84

DIRECT ACCESS
Browse Granule Listing
https://cmr.earthdata.nasa.gov/virtual-directory/collections/C3233942270-POCLOUD
OPENDAP DATA
https://opendap.earthdata.nasa.gov
Search Granules
https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/search/granules?p=C3233942270-POCLOUD
This dataset can be downloaded using the podaac-data-subscriber (the recommended tool for bulk downloading PO.DAAC data). It is a Python package for downloading one or many files using the command line interface. The URL redirects to the data-subscriber home page with instructions for utilizing the tool
https://github.com/podaac/data-subscriber
DIRECT S3-ACCESS
Available for access in-region with AWS Cloud
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us-west-2
Bucket/Object Prefix: Protected buckets contain the data files for a given collection. Protected simply means users must log in to Earthdata Login before gaining access to contents within that S3 Bucket. Please use the S3Credential endpoint to gain an Earthdata login token for use in S3 Access. Public buckets, in contrast, house metadata such as checksums, imagery, and metadata files and the like. A user can access public buckets and these types of files without logging in to Earthdata Login. Most of the time, you'll want to access the protected bucket Information
podaac-swot-ops-cumulus-protected/SWOT_L2_LR_SSH_D/
podaac-swot-ops-cumulus-public/SWOT_L2_LR_SSH_D/
AWS S3 Credentials
Get AWS S3 Credentials \| Documentation
TOOLS AND SERVICES
Data Subscriber
This dataset can be accessed with the Harmony subsetter service to subset and regrid data on-the-fly. Several subsetting options are available such as spatial, variable, temporal, and vertical level. The URL redirects to a general page with information about utilizing the service. An example query: https://harmony.earthdata.nasa.gov/C3378626164-POCLOUD/ogc-api-coverages/1.0.0/collections/all/coverage/rangeset?subset=lat(minLat:maxLat)&subset=lon(minLon:maxLon)&subset=time(startTime:stopTime)&format=application%2Fx-netcdf4

Name	Long Name	Unit
ancillary_surface_classification_flag	surface classification
distance_to_coast	distance to coast	m
dynamic_ice_flag	dynamic ice flag
geoid	geoid height	m
heading_to_coast	heading to coast	degrees
height_cor_xover	height correction from crossover calibration	m
height_cor_xover_qual	quality flag for height correction from crossover calibration
internal_tide_hret	coherent internal tide (HRET)	m
latitude	latitude (positive N, negative S)	degrees_north
longitude	longitude (degrees East)	degrees_east
mean_sea_surface_cnescls	mean sea surface height (CNES/CLS)	m
mean_sea_surface_cnescls_uncert	mean sea surface height accuracy (CNES/CLS)	m
num_pt_avg	number of samples averaged	1
rad_surface_type_flag	radiometer surface type flag
rain_flag	rain flag
ssh_karin	sea surface height	m
ssh_karin_2	sea surface height	m
ssh_karin_2_qual	quality flag for sea surface height from KaRIn
ssh_karin_qual	quality flag for sea surface height from KaRIn
ssh_karin_uncert	sea surface height anomaly uncertainty	m
ssha_karin	sea surface height anomaly	m
ssha_karin_2	sea surface height anomaly	m
ssha_karin_2_qual	sea surface height anomaly quality flag
ssha_karin_qual	sea surface height anomaly quality flag
time	time in UTC	seconds since 2000-01-01 00:00:00.0
time_tai	time in TAI	seconds since 2000-01-01 00:00:00.0

USER'S GUIDE
https://archive.podaac.earthdata.nasa.gov/podaac-ops-cumulus-docs/web-misc/swot_mission_docs/D-109532_SWOT_UserHandbook_RevA_20250311_sig-final.pdf SWOT User Handbook
https://archive.podaac.earthdata.nasa.gov/podaac-ops-cumulus-docs/web-misc/swot_mission_docs/pdd/D-56407_SWOT_Product_Description_L2_LR_SSH_20250224a_RevC_clean_sig.pdf Product Description Document (PDD)
GENERAL DOCUMENTATION
https://www.nasa.gov/swot SWOT Mission Page at NASA
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/surface-water-and-ocean-topography-swot SWOT Mission Page at JPL
https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/swot SWOT Mission Page at PO.DAAC
https://www.aviso.altimetry.fr/en/missions/current-missions/swot.html SWOT Mission Page at AVISO
DATA CITATION GUIDELINES
https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/CitingPODAAC Data Use and Citation Guidelines
ALGORITHM THEORETICAL BASIS DOCUMENT (ATBD)
https://archive.podaac.earthdata.nasa.gov/podaac-ops-cumulus-docs/web-misc/swot_mission_docs/atbd/D-105502_SWOT_ATBD_L2_LR_SSH_20230724a_cite.pdf Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD)

https://archive.podaac.earthdata.nasa.gov/podaac-ops-cumulus-docs/web-misc/swot_mission_docs/SWOT_VersionD_KaRIn_Products_Release_Note_20250423b.pdf Release Note

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. Please cite the data as follows, and cite the reference papers when it is appropriate.

Citation

Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT). 2025. SWOT Level 2 KaRIn Low Rate Sea Surface Height Data Product - Basic, Version D. Ver. D. PO.DAAC, CA, USA. Dataset accessed [YYYY-MM-DD] at https://doi.org/10.5067/SWOT-SSH-D

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For more information see Data Citations and Acknowledgments.

Journal Reference

JPL Internal Document. 2018. Surface Water and Ocean Topography Mission (SWOT) Project: Science Requirements Document, JPL D-61923, Rev. B, Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Cloud Enabled

Status:

ACTIVE

Short Name:

SWOT_L2_LR_SSH_BASIC_D

Collection Concept ID:

C3233942270-POCLOUD

Spatial Coverage:

N: 90°

S: -90°

E: 180°

W: -180°

Access:

PO.DAAC

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SWOT Level 2 KaRIn Low Rate Sea Surface Height Data Product - Basic, Version D

SWOT Level 2 KaRIn Low Rate Sea Surface Height Data Product - Basic, Version D

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SWOT Level 2 KaRIn Low Rate Sea Surface Height Data Product - Basic, Version D

SWOT Level 2 KaRIn Low Rate Sea Surface Height Data Product - Basic, Version D

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