Jason-3 Animation

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

The ocean is responsible for Earth's mild climate and makes life on Earth possible for all creatures.

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

TOPEX/Poseidon Launch

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

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...

Launching aboard the joint U.S.-European Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite is NASA’s next instrument that will help improve weather forecasting.

Jason-1 Lithograph

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

For NASA engineer Shannon Statham, building spacecraft is all about being creative.

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

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...

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

This visualization shows total sea level change between 1992 and 2019, based on data collected from the TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, Jason-2, and Jason-3 satellites. Blue regions are where sea level ha...

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.

Greenland and Antarctica are home to most of the world's glacial ice – including its only two ice sheets – making them areas of particular interest to scientists.

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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

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

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.

Jason-1 Launch - Artists Concept

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

TOPEX/Poseidon Line Drawing

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...