GEOSAT: Sea Surface Height, Wind, and Wave Measurements from 1985-1989
Updated 2mo ago
22filesHTML
Available on 2 platforms
Sign in to view source links and access this dataset
Description
Approximately 750 million measurements of sea level, wave height, and wind speed were collected by the US Navy's GEOSAT radar altimeter over nearly five years. The dataset contains Sensor, Geodetic, Waveform, and Crossover Difference records from both the non-repeating Geodetic Mission and the 17-day repeat Exact Repeat Mission. Parameters include time, orbit, latitude/longitude, and sea surface height, with corrections applied for tides, troposphere, ionosphere, and other geophysical effects.
Use Cases
Analyzing global sea surface height anomalies and ocean circulation patterns based on corrected altimeter measurements.
Calibrating modern satellite altimeter missions using the foundational geodetic mission's crossover difference records.
Studying wind speed and wave height climatology over the global oceans from the mid-to-late 1980s.
Validating ocean tide and geophysical correction models using the applied tropospheric and ionospheric corrections.
Strengths
Contains a foundational, large-scale time series of approximately 750 million global ocean measurements.
Covers two distinct mission phases with different orbital characteristics (non-repeating and 17-day repeat).
Includes multiple processed record types (SDR, GDR, WDR, XDR) with applied geophysical corrections.
Limitations
Key metadata conflicts exist: the description states data through January 1990, but the explicit time range is given as ending December 31, 1989.
Column names and precise data structure are not provided in the available metadata.
The dataset's original physical distribution was on CD-ROMs, which may pose access challenges.
Provenance
Source
U.S. Navy, processed by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and NOAA/NOS Satellite Altimeter Group.
Collection Method
Satellite radar altimetry from the GEOSAT mission.
Time Range
March 30, 1985 to December 31, 1989 (with mission activity noted through January 1990).
Freshness
Metadata was last updated on April 1, 2026 on Data.gov, but the underlying data collection ended in 1989/1990.
Geography
Global oceans.
Data was originally distributed as NODC Standard Products on CD-ROMs (4-8 discs per product). The dataset's presence on multiple government platforms indicates its canonical status but does not specify a standard open license.