Our Rising Seas

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...

Whale Census and Habitat

A look at how NASA is dealing with the threat of sea level rise to its coastal infrastructure.

Jason-1 Poster

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...

Bringing Satellite Data Down to Earth

Estudio de seguimiento de la altura de los océanos para comprender el clima terrestre

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...

Variability of Ocean Dynamic Topography

Sea Level

Wave Height

This animation illustrates the evolution of sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies (relative to the respective normal state) in the Pacific Ocean associated with the 2015-2016 El Niño.

Sea Surface Height

Measuring El Niño & La Niña - JPL Open House '99 Display

A Year in the Life Of El Niño

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...

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...

TOPEX/Poseidon Sticker

Ocean Dynamic Topography

Launched on January 17, 2016, Jason-3 is a partnership that includes NOAA, NASA, CNES, and EUMETSAT.  The map shown here was generated using sea surface height measurements from the first 10 days (...

El Niño Poster

Jason-1 with 3 Ships

Jason-1 Fact Sheet

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.

Ocean Dynamic Topography