Jason-3 Animation

Sea Level Isn't Level - Why it matters

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

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.

Altimeter Mission Series

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

These photos were taken during the Dual Payload Attach Fitting (DPAF) mating operation with Jason-1. (11/13/01) Photos: Scott Michel

Our planet is changing. Our ocean is rising. And it affects us all. That’s why a new international satellite will continue the decades-long watch over our global ocean and help us better understand...

Jason-3 Lifts Off!

OSTM/Jason-2 Artist's Concept

Jason-1 Launch - Artists Concept

This illustration shows the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich spacecraft in orbit above Earth with its deployable solar panels extended.

Spacecraft processing

SSH and SST - Pacific Ocean

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

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...

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...

Jason-1: LRA instrument

Jason-1 launch images

TOPEX/Poseidon over Earth

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

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

TOPEX/Poseidon Artist's Concept

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 - Indian Ocean