NASA
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
Skip Navigation
Ocean Surface Topography from Space
Stay Connected
menu
close modal
Resources
TOPEX/Poseidon Instruments
Published:
August 1, 2000
TOPEX/Poseidon Instruments
Related
Watching Our Oceans
Watching Our Oceans
The Jason-2 satellite sees something brewing in the Pacific. Researchers say it could be a significant El Niño with implications for global weather and climate.
El Niño - Is 2014 the New 1997?
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
NASA and SpaceX Launch U.S.-European Mission to Monitor World's Ocean (Recap)
The Jason-3 satellite, launched on January 17, 2016, is allowing scientists to continue a 23-year record of crucial ocean monitoring.
ScienceCasts: Measuring the Rising Seas
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...
Sea Surface Height Anomalies and Global Mean Sea Level
B-roll for media. The Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich is an Earth-observing satellite that will collect data on sea level and how it changes over time. By measuring sea surface height, scientists world...
Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich Media Reel
A key ocean observation satellite has been named after Earth scientist Michael Freilich
Ocean Satellite Renamed for Noted Scientist
TOPEX/Poseidon Launch
TOPEX/Poseidon Launch
TOPEX/Poseidon Ground Tracks
TOPEX/Poseidon Ground Tracks
For NASA JPL engineer Parag Vaze, studying Earth’s rising ocean has been a career three decades in the making.
NASA Engineer Observes Sea Level Rise from Space for 30 Years
Launching aboard the joint U.S.-European Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite is NASA’s next instrument that will help improve weather forecasting.
Using GPS to Improve Weather Forecasts
Jason-3 Animation
Jason-3 Animation
El Niño is characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific. The warmer water associated with El Niño displaces colder water in the upper layer of the ocean caus...
Sea Surface Height Anomaly, 2014-2016
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...
NASA Engineer Helps Track the Global Impacts of Rising Seas
OSTM/Jason-2 - All instruments plus data animation
OSTM/Jason-2 - All instruments plus data animation
Decades of Discovery - How altimeters help us every day.
Decades of Discovery
OSTM/Jason-2 - Data/ground track animation
OSTM/Jason-2 - Data/ground track animation
Oceans of Climate Change
Oceans of Climate Change
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...
Sea Level Rise Accelerates Over Time
One of the best ways to understand Earth's ocean is from the perspective of space.
Climate Change and the Global Ocean
SSH and SST - Indian Ocean
SSH and SST - Indian Ocean
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.
Melting Ice, Rising Seas
El Niño/La Niña - (12/1996 - 01/2000)
El Niño/La Niña - (12/1996 - 01/2000)
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...
NASA Science Live: Rising Seas
Here we provide side by side comparisons of Pacific Ocean sea surface height (SSH) anomalies of what is presently happening in 2015 with the Pacific Ocean signal during the famous 1997 El Niño.
El Niño: 1997 vs. 2015