Approaching 20 years of scientific discovery by NASA’s ocean altimetry satellites has broadened the depth of science objectives for the missions. OSTM/Jason-2 and its successor missions are now expected to:Measure global sea-height change and provide a continuous view of changing global ocean surface topography
- Calculate the transport of heat, water mass, nutrients, and salt by the oceans
- Increase understanding of ocean circulation and seasonal changes and how the general ocean circulation changes through time
- Provide estimates of significant wave height and wind speeds over the ocean
- Test how we compute ocean circulation caused by blowing winds
- Improve the knowledge of ocean tides and develop open- ocean tide models
- Improve forecasting of climatic events like El Niño and of global climate in general
- Describe the nature of ocean dynamics and develop a global view of Earth's oceans
- Monitor the variation of global mean sea level and its relation to global climate change
