PO.DAAC

Mission Mandated Centers

NASA PO.DAAC  https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/

Mission Mandated Centers

NASA PO.DAAC  https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/

• Reference ellipsoid - An idealized ellipse around the Earth used as a proxy for the bottom of the ocean. The typical reference ellipsoid used by altimetric missions is 6378.1363 km equatorial radius and 1/298.257 flattening coefficient.
• MSS - Mean Sea Surface - The height of the ocean after averaging many years of sea surface heights to remove seasonal, semi-annual and annual signals.

• Ocean Surface Topography from Space 
• Radar Altimetry Tutorial
• OpenADB Pass Locator

The spatial distribution of sea level change and its global average (global mean sea level or GMSL)  are routinely measured by altimetric satellites. There are over 20 years of altimetric measurements of GMSL, showing variability due to the seasonal cycle, ENSO events as well as a long term upward trend of about 3 mm/yr (about 1 and 3/16 inches every 10 years).  The data are usually filtered so that seasonal cycles are removed. They are cross-calibrated amongst the various satellites, to remove instrument biases.

Most altimetric datasets are designed for the deep oceans because land contaminates the return signal of the altimeter and radiometer.  To resolve these issues several projects have developed various algorithms tuned to coastal or inland waters that retrack and/or provide improved corrections. These projects provide their results as experimental datasets.

ALES

Most altimetric datasets are designed for the deep oceans because land contaminates the return signal of the altimeter and radiometer.  To resolve these issues several projects have developed various algorithms tuned to coastal or inland waters that retrack and/or provide improved corrections. These projects provide their results as experimental datasets.

CTOH

Below are a list of tools that provide visualizations and/or subsetting data and access protocols.
 

NASA PO.DAAC

This section contains information on Climate Data Records (CDR), reconstructed sea level and Mean Sea Surface (MSS).