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Full catalog/JASON_CS_S6A_L2P_ALT_LR_OST_NTC_F08
JASON_CS_S6A_L2P_ALT_LR_OST_NTC_F08·vF08·dataset

Sea surface height and waves (Sentinel-6A, low-res)

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

What it measures. Lower-resolution measurements of the ocean surface, including sea-surface height and wave height, plus supporting details like the satellite's altitude, timing, and atmospheric water vapor.

How it's made. Derived from the calibrated radar waveforms of the Poseidon-4 altimeter on Sentinel-6A, with weather and geophysical corrections and wave and wind information added, delivered on about a 60-day timeline.

How & where you'd use it. Used to monitor sea level and ocean conditions for oceanography and climate research, comparable to the long-running Jason-3 ocean records.

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 low resolution (LR) 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_lr_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_LR_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.