In May 2015, more than 35 trillion gallons of water fell over Texas, enough to cover the entire state 8 inches deep in water. NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite and other satellite instruments along with in situ data were used to create a comprehensive chronology of the flood from land to ocean.
Launched on January 17, 2016, Jason-3 is a partnership that includes NOAA, NASA, CNES and EUMETSAT. After launch, Jason-3 was maneuvered into orbit about 80 seconds behind Jason-2, where it collected data at essentially the same time and place. It will stay in this tandem orbit for about six months while scientists and engineers take a careful look at any differences between Jason-2 and Jason-3.
This visualization shows total sea level change between 1992 and 2014, based on data collected from the TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1 and Jason-2 satellites. Blue regions are where sea level has gone down, and orange/red regions are where sea level has gone up. Since 1992, seas around the world have risen an average of nearly 3 inches. The color range for this visualization is -7 cm to +7 cm (-2.76 inches to +2.76 inches), though measured data extends above and below 7 cm (2.76 inches). This particular range was chosen to highlight variations in sea level change.
For over 20 years, satellite altimeters have measured the sea surface height of our ever-changing oceans. This series of images shows the complicated patterns of rising and falling ocean levels across the globe from 1993 to 2015. Sea levels reflect changing currents (which tilt the sea surface), the redistribution of heat (which makes sea levels higher) and the long term rise in global sea levels that is the result of human-caused warming. The globally averaged rise is traced out in the bottom right-hand corner.
The PO.DAAC is pleased to announce the public release of the “QuikSCAT Level 2B Ocean Wind Vectors in 12.5km Slice Composites Version 3.1” (hereafter L2B Version 3.1) dataset. This dataset consists of Version 3.1 Level 2B (L2B) science-quality ocean surface wind vector retrievals from the Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT). L2B data are in an along-track/cross-track swath grid with a pixel (wind vector cell) resolution of 12.5 km.
Please be informed that the following PO.DAAC public Data Access services will experience intermittent downtime during the scheduled upgrade window this Thursday, October 27 2016, between 4pm - 5pm (PST):
The animation compares the evolution of sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) associated with the 1997-98 and 2015-16 El Niño events. The comparison illustrates that the 2015-16 El Niño was preceded by anomalous warm waters throughout the Pacific, especially along the West Coast of Central and North America.
The animation illustrates the evolution of sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) associated with the 2015-16 El Niño in the Pacific Ocean. The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a quasi-periodic fluctuation of ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific. The temperatures generally fluctuate between two states: warmer than normal central and eastern equatorial Pacific (El Niño) and cooler than normal central and eastern equatorial Pacific (La Niña).
Mike Gangl and Aaron Plave participated in a NASA Earthdata webinar on September 28, 2016, entitled "PO.DAAC: Discover, Access and Subset NASA Physical Oceanography Data."
Please be informed that the PO.DAAC FTP site experienced a hardware storage issue which is being investigated and should be resolved within a few days. The PO.DAAC public Data Access services may be affected for some datasets. We apologize for the inconvenience.
