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

(SWOT_L2_LR_SSH_EXPERT_D)
VersionD
Processing Level2
Start/Stop Date2022-Dec-16 to Present
Short NameSWOT_L2_LR_SSH_EXPERT_D
DescriptionThe SWOT Level 2 KaRIn Low Rate Sea Surface Height Expert 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 "Expert" file from each L2 SSH product, which contain all related variables and is intended for expert users.
DOI10.5067/SWOT-SSH-D
MeasurementOCEANS > SEA SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY > SEA SURFACE HEIGHT
OCEANS > OCEAN WAVES > SIGNIFICANT WAVE HEIGHT
Swath Width120 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
ProjectSurface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT)
Data ProviderPublisher: JPL NASA
Creator: Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT)
Release Place: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Release Date: 2025-May-13
Resource: https://swot.jpl.nasa.gov/

FormatnetCDF-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
 
Capabilities
DIRECT ACCESS
Browse Granule Listing
OPENDAP DATA
Search Granules
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
DIRECT S3-ACCESS
Available for access in-region with AWS Cloud
Region
us-west-2
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
NameLong NameUnit
ancillary_surface_classification_flagsurface classification
cross_track_anglecross-track angle from true northdegrees
cross_track_distancecross track distancem
dacdynamic atmospheric correctionm
depth_or_elevationocean depth or land elevationm
distance_to_coastdistance to coastm
doppler_centroiddoppler centroid estimated by KaRIn1/s
dynamic_ice_flagdynamic ice flag
geoidgeoid heightm
heading_to_coastheading to coastdegrees
height_cor_xoverheight correction from crossover calibrationm
height_cor_xover_qualquality flag for height correction from crossover calibration
ice_concconcentration of sea ice%
internal_tide_hretcoherent internal tide (HRET)m
internal_tide_sol2coherent internal tide (Model 2)m
inv_bar_corstatic inverse barometer effect on sea surface heightm
iono_cor_gim_kaionosphere vertical correctionm
latitudelatitude (positive N, negative S)degrees_north
latitude_avg_sshweighted average latitude of samples used to compute SSHdegrees_north
latitude_nadirlatitude of satellite nadir pointdegrees_north
load_tide_fesgeocentric load tide height (FES)m
load_tide_gotgeocentric load tide height (GOT)m
longitudelongitude (degrees East)degrees_east
longitude_avg_sshweighted average longitude of samples used to compute SSHdegrees_east
longitude_nadirlongitude of satellite nadir pointdegrees_east
mean_dynamic_topographymean dynamic topographym
mean_dynamic_topography_uncertmean dynamic topography accuracym
mean_sea_surface_cnesclsmean sea surface height (CNES/CLS)m
mean_sea_surface_cnescls_uncertmean sea surface height accuracy (CNES/CLS)m
mean_sea_surface_dtumean sea surface height (DTU)m
mean_sea_surface_dtu_uncertmean sea surface height accuracy (DTU)m
mean_wave_directionmean sea surface wave directiondegree
mean_wave_period_t02t02 mean wave periods
model_dry_tropo_cordry troposphere vertical correctionm
model_wet_tropo_corwet troposphere vertical correction from weather model datam
num_pt_avgnumber of samples averaged1
obp_ref_surfaceheight of reference surface used by on-board-processorm
ocean_tide_eqequilibrium long-period ocean tide heightm
ocean_tide_fesgeocentric ocean tide height (FES)m
ocean_tide_gotgeocentric ocean tide height (GOT)m
ocean_tide_non_eqnon-equilibrium long-period ocean tide heightm
orbit_alt_rateorbital altitude rate with respect to mean sea surfacem/s
orbit_qualorbit quality flag
phase_bias_ref_surfaceheight of reference surface used for phase bias calculationm
polarization_karinpolarization for each side of the KaRIn swath
pole_tidegeocentric pole tide heightm
rad_cloud_liquid_waterliquid water content from radiometerkg/m^2
rad_surface_type_flagradiometer surface type flag
rad_tmb_187radiometer main beam brightness temperature at 18.7 GHzK
rad_tmb_238radiometer main beam brightness temperature at 23.8 GHzK
rad_tmb_340radiometer main beam brightness temperature at 34.0 GHzK
rad_water_vaporwater vapor content from radiometerkg/m^2
rad_wet_tropo_corwet troposphere vertical correction from radiometer datam
rain_flagrain flag
rain_raterain rate from weather modelmm/hr
sc_altitudealtitude of KMSF originm
sc_event_flagspacecraft event flag
sc_pitchpitch of the spacecraftdegrees
sc_rollroll of the spacecraftdegrees
sc_yawyaw of the spacecraftdegrees
sea_state_bias_corsea state bias correctionm
sea_state_bias_cor_2sea state bias correctionm
sig0_cor_atmos_modeltwo-way atmospheric correction to sigma0 from model1
sig0_cor_atmos_radtwo-way atmospheric correction to sigma0 from radiometer data1
sig0_karinnormalized radar cross section (sigma0) from KaRIn1
sig0_karin_2normalized radar cross section (sigma0) from KaRIn1
sig0_karin_2_qualquality flag for sigma0 from KaRIn.
sig0_karin_qualquality flag for sigma0 from KaRIn.
sig0_karin_uncert1-sigma uncertainty on sigma0 from KaRIn1
solid_earth_tidesolid Earth tide heightm
ssh_karinsea surface heightm
ssh_karin_2sea surface heightm
ssh_karin_2_qualquality flag for sea surface height from KaRIn
ssh_karin_qualquality flag for sea surface height from KaRIn
ssh_karin_uncertsea surface height anomaly uncertaintym
ssha_karinsea surface height anomalym
ssha_karin_2sea surface height anomalym
ssha_karin_2_qualsea surface height anomaly quality flag
ssha_karin_qualsea surface height anomaly quality flag
swh_karinsignificant wave height from KaRInm
swh_karin_qualquality flag for significant wave height from KaRIn.
swh_karin_uncert1-sigma uncertainty on significant wave height from KaRInm
swh_modelsignificant wave height from wave modelm
swh_nadir_altimetersignificant wave height from nadir altimeterm
swh_ssb_cor_sourcesource flag for significant wave height information used to compute sea state bias correction
swh_ssb_cor_source_2source flag for significant wave height information used to compute sea state bias correction
swh_wind_speed_karin_sourcesource flag for significant wave height information used to compute wind speed from KaRIn
swh_wind_speed_karin_source_2source flag for significant wave height information used to compute wind speed from KaRIn
timetime in UTCseconds since 2000-01-01 00:00:00.0
time_taitime in TAIseconds since 2000-01-01 00:00:00.0
velocity_headingheading of the spacecraft Earth-relative velocity vectordegrees
volumetric_correlationvolumetric correlation1
volumetric_correlation_uncertvolumetric correlation standard deviation1
wind_speed_karinwind speed from KaRInm/s
wind_speed_karin_2wind speed from KaRInm/s
wind_speed_karin_2_qualquality flag for wind speed from KaRIn.
wind_speed_karin_qualquality flag for wind speed from KaRIn.
wind_speed_model_uu component of model windm/s
wind_speed_model_vv component of model windm/s
wind_speed_radwind speed from radiometerm/s
wind_speed_ssb_cor_sourcesource flag for wind speed information used to compute sea state bias correction
wind_speed_ssb_cor_source_2source flag for wind speed information used to compute sea state bias correction
x_factorradiometric calibration X factor as a composite value for the X factors of the +y and -y channels1
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 - Expert, 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.