Jason-3 Animation

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

Sea Level Isn't Level - Why it matters

TOPEX/Poseidon Artist's Concept

Headed for Orbit!

OSTM/Jason-2 - Data/ground track animation

Oceans of Climate Change

Jason-1 Artists Concept

After living in coastal Virginia and seeing the effects of climate change firsthand, Ben Hamlington is now researching sea level rise at NASA JPL.

TOPEX/Poseidon Line Drawing

Jason-1 Launch - Artists Concept

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 on top of the DPAF

Jason-1 Lithograph

Spacecraft processing

OSTM/Jason-2 Artist's Concept

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, topped with the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite secured inside its payload fairing, is rolled to Space Launch Complex 4

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base carrying the Jason-3 spacecraft. Liftoff was at 10:42 a.m. PST (1:42 p.m. EST).

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

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

Jason-1 Spacecraft Animation

Decades of Discovery - How altimeters help us every day.

It's hard to "see" sea level rise by just looking at the ocean, but its effects are very real.

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...

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.

Jason-3