TOPEX/Poseidon Ground Tracks

For NASA JPL engineer Parag Vaze, studying Earth’s rising ocean has been a career three decades in the making.

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

t - 7 minutes - Photo: Tom Shain

NASA and its partners announced the renaming of the mission, previously known as Sentinel-6A/Jason-CS.

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.

Jason-1 Artists Concept

Mission team members perform acoustic tests of the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite in a chamber outfitted with giant speakers that blast the spacecraft with sound. This is to ensure that the ...

TOPEX/Poseidon Launch

Jason-1: TRSR instrument

Launch preparations are progressing! (11/21/01) Photos: Stacy Mitchell of John Hopkins APL/TIMED project

High Resolution Jason-1 launch images

It’s not only water processes that play a role in global sea level rise – ground movements can play a significant role as well.

Experts from NASA, ESA, EUMETSAT, and NOAA discuss the upcoming launch of Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich in a recorded live broadcast

Jason-CS/Sentinel-6 - How they will work

TOPEX/Poseidon Artist's Concept

Changing conditions in the Pacific have stirred up Earth’s largest ocean and redistributed its heat, piling up warm waters along U.S. Western shores and raising sea level in the process.

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

Ariane 42P launch vehicle

TOPEX/Poseidon Poster (no text)

Fathoming the forces that determine global sea levels can be daunting. We present a guide to the basics of ocean surface topography.

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

Jason-1 readies for launch in its bay at Vandenberg, AFB (10/31/01)

Jason-1 launch images

Growing up in landlocked Zimbabwe, NASA JPL engineer Shailen Desai was far from the ocean but still experienced its effects on the climate. Now, he is contributing to an international effort to tra...

Jason-1: JMR instrument