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Full catalog/JASON_CS_S6A_L2P_ALT_HR_OST_NTC_F08
JASON_CS_S6A_L2P_ALT_HR_OST_NTC_F08·vF08·dataset

Sea surface height, high-resolution (Sentinel-6A)

Sentinel-6A MF Jason-CS L2P P4 Altimeter High Resolution (HR) NTC Ocean Surface Topography F08
ocean NASA POCLOUD Level 2P netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. Detailed measurements of the height of the sea surface, along with related sea-state details like wave height, wind speed at the surface, and the amount of water vapor in the air above. The figures come from carefully studied data rather than fast preliminary readings.

How it's made. A radar altimeter (Poseidon-4) and a microwave radiometer on the Sentinel-6A Michael Freilich satellite bounce signals off the ocean, with a roughly 60-day wait so the most accurate corrections can be applied.

How & where you'd use it. Tracking sea-level rise, mapping ocean currents, and feeding climate records. Because it is the carefully finalized version rather than a quick one, it suits research that values accuracy over speed.

What's measured

OCEANS › SEA SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY › SEA SURFACE HEIGHTOCEANS › OCEAN WAVES › SIGNIFICANT WAVE HEIGHT

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2020-11-30 → ongoing
  • Measured bySentinel-6A (Poseidon-4 Radar Altimeter, AMR-C, DORIS, GNSS RECEIVER)
  • Processing levelLevel 2P
  • Spatial extent-180, -66.15, 180, 66.15
  • FormatsnetCDF-4
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Watch sea-surface temperature and marine heatwaves
  • Spot algal blooms and ocean-colour shifts
  • Support fisheries and coastal monitoring
Official description

Provides L2P high resolution (HR) non-time critical (NTC; 60-day latency) altimetry from the Poseidon-4 SAR altimeter on the Sentinel-6A Michael Freilich spacecraft, and contains L2-equivalent geophysical sea-state data at a slightly different latency than the other L2 NRT products. The sea-state data were derived from L1B altimetry, and include range, orbital altitude, time, and water vapour. Environmental and geophysical corrections, significant wave height, and wind-speed information are supplied by the AMR-C. The S6A NTC product is analogous to the Jason-3 GDR product.

Get the data

jason_cs_s6a_l2p_alt_hr_ost_ntc_f08_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="JASON_CS_S6A_L2P_ALT_HR_OST_NTC_F08",
    version="F08",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from POCLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.