Watching Our Oceans

SSH and SST - Global

Sea levels across the globe are rising as a result of a changing climate — and the rate at which they are rising is accelerating. NASA Science Live was recorded Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020, and featured...

Earth’s rising seas are some of the most visible signs of our warming planet. Over the last 23 years, NASA satellite missions have observed a steady rise in global sea levels as polar ice sheets me...

In many communities in the U.S., sea level rise is already a factor in people’s lives in the form of high-tide flooding.

Sea Surface Height - Global Average from 1993 - 2011.

Jason-3 Animation

Global sea level rise is accelerating incrementally over time rather than increasing at a steady rate, as previously thought, according to a new study based on 25 years of NASA and European satelli...

The Jason-3 satellite, launched on January 17, 2016, is allowing scientists to continue a 23-year record of crucial ocean monitoring.

NASA and its U.S. and international partners have teamed up to launch a new Earth-observing satellite called Sentinel-6B that will measure sea surface height of most of the planet’s ocean. These ob...

El Niño/La Niña - (12/1996 - 01/2000)

Sea level rise is an indicator that our planet is warming. When ice on land, such as mountain glaciers or the ice sheets of Greenland or Antarctica, melts, that water contributes to sea level rise.

The ocean-observing Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Nov. 21, 2020 at 12:17 p.m. EST

On the left is Sea Surface Height Anomalies (SSHA) relative to the sea level mean (1993-2018). On the right is Global Mean Sea Level (GMSL) with the sea level trend as the straight line. The data a...

Decades of Discovery - How altimeters help us every day.

Earth’s global sea levels are rising – and are doing so at an accelerating rate.

Recorded live launch broadcast of Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich

OSTM/Jason-2 - All instruments plus data animation

Jason-1 Spacecraft Animation

Oceans of Climate Change

QuickTime VR of TOPEX/Poseidon

Ice covers 10 percent of Earth's surface and helps moderate the planet's temperature.

The Argo stop-motion animation aims to inspire children (and adults) to engage with marine science. It is quirky, fun and informative at the same time. The animation explains what an Argo float is,...

Sea Surface Height 01/2006-04/2010

One of the best ways to understand Earth's ocean is from the perspective of space.

SSH and SST - Indian Ocean