TOPEX/Poseidon Launch

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.

Jason-1 launch images

Jason-1 Line Drawing

Jason-1: JMR instrument

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.

El Niño/La Niña - (12/1996 - 01/2000)

These photos were taken during the Payload Attach Fitting (PAF) mating operation with Jason-1. (11/14/01) Photos: Scott Michel

A look at how NASA is dealing with the threat of sea level rise to its coastal infrastructure.

Sea Surface Height - Global Average from 1993 - 2011.

Altimeter Mission Series

NASA Climate Watcher Waves Goodbye

Oceans' Role in Climate - Jason-1

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

The SpaceX Falcon 9 with the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite is lifted to vertical at Space Launch Complex 4

TOPEX/Poseidon Artist's Concept

High Resolution Jason-1 launch images

Jason-1 launch images

This is an artist's concept of the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich spacecraft.

To provide scientists with essential information about global and regional changes in the seas, NASA will launch the Jason-3 satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

SSH and SST - Pacific Ocean

Our World: How High is the Ocean?

OSTM/Jason-2 Spacecraft

High Resolution Jason-1 launch images

Decades of Discovery - How altimeters help us every day.

High Resolution Jason-1 launch images