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Full catalog/MERGED_TP_J1_OSTM_OST_CYCLES_V60
MERGED_TP_J1_OSTM_OST_CYCLES_V60·v6.0·dataset

Long-term sea-level record from many altimeter missions

Integrated Multi-Mission Ocean Altimeter Data for Climate Research Version 6.0
ocean NASA POCLOUD Level 2 netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. A long, consistent record of how sea surface height has risen or dipped relative to a reference, measured along satellite tracks in 10-day cycles. It stitches many missions into one comparable timeline from 1992 to the present.

How it's made. Built by carefully cross-calibrating and aligning sea-height data from a string of altimeter satellites (TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, 2, 3, and Sentinel-6A) onto a common reference orbit.

How & where you'd use it. A key resource for tracking global sea-level change over decades, used widely in climate research.

What's measured

OCEANS › SEA SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY › SEA SURFACE HEIGHT

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span1992-09-25 → 2025-05-22
  • Measured byOSTM/JASON-2 (AMR, POSEIDON-3) · JASON-1 (JASON-1 Microwave Radiometer, POSEIDON-2) · TOPEX/POSEIDON (TMR) · JASON-3 (POSEIDON-3B) · Sentinel-6A
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-180, -66, 180, 66
  • 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

The Integrated Multi-Mission Ocean Altimeter Sea Surface Height (SSH) Version 6.0 dataset provides level 2 along track sea surface height anomalies (SSHA) for 10-day cycles from the TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, OSTM/Jason-2, Jason-3, and Sentinel-6A missions geo-referenced to a mean reference orbit. It is produced by NASA Sea Surface Height (NASA-SSH) project investigators at Goddard Space Flight Center and Jet Propulsion Laboratory with support from NASA’s Physical Oceanography program, and was developed originally as an Earth System Data Record (ESDR) under the Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) program, which supported forward processing and incremental refinements through version 5.1 (released in April 2022). Geophysical Data Records (GDRs) from each altimetry mission were interpolated to a common reference orbit with biases and cross-calibrations applied so that the derived SSHA are consistent between satellites to form a single homogeneous climate data record. The entire multi-mission data record covers the period from September 1992 to present; it is extended to include new observations approximately once each quarter. The current release (version 6.0) applies the following revisions: a) GSFC std2400 orbit for T/P and Jason-1 (cycles 169 – 259), b) JPL_igs20 orbit for Jason-1 (cycles 1 – 168), Jason-2, Jason-3, and Sentinel-6a, c) ITRF2020 terrestrial reference frame, d) Jason-2 GDR_F data, e) Sentinel-6a LR version F09/G01 data through cycle 166, f) GOT5.6D ocean tide model, g) Range latitudinal empirical correction for Jason-1,2, & 3 GDRs. More information about the data content and derivation can be found in the v6.0 User’s Handbook.

Get the data

merged_tp_j1_ostm_ost_cycles_v60_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MERGED_TP_J1_OSTM_OST_CYCLES_V60",
    version="6.0",
    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.