Global Stacked Sea Surface Height Profiles from Sentinel-3B SARM Satellite
Updated 3mo ago
20files
Available on 2 platforms
Sign in to view source links and access this dataset
Description
770 Sentinel-3B Synthetic Aperture Radar Mode satellite altimeter passes provide 20,239 records of stacked sea surface height profiles. The dataset, produced by NOAA NCEI, contains median profiles derived from repeat cycles 19 to 38, aligned along a synthetic track between +/-81.419 degrees latitude. It includes longitude, latitude, number of cycles, sigma error, and the stacked height measurement.
Use Cases
Analyzing median sea surface height profiles along specific satellite ground tracks using the 'stacked sea surface height' column.
Assessing measurement precision for altimetry data by examining the 'sigma' (one sigma error) values.
Studying data coverage and repeat cycle consistency via the 'number_of_cycles' column for each record.
Mapping global sea surface height observations within +/-81.419 degrees latitude using 'longitude' and 'latitude' coordinates.
Investigating temporal changes in sea level by leveraging data from repeat cycles 19 to 38.
Strengths
Contains a substantial 20,239 data records derived from 770 satellite passes.
Data is processed via stacking (median profile) across multiple repeat cycles (19 to 38), reducing noise.
Provides explicit error estimates through the 'sigma' column for each measurement.
Has a broad latitudinal coverage, spanning from -81.419 to +81.419 degrees.
Limitations
The exact column names and data schema within the NetCDF file are not detailed in the provided metadata.
There is a conflict in the 'last updated' date between sources (2026-03-06 vs. 2020-04-24).
License, author, and precise file size information are unavailable.
Provenance
Source
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).
Collection Method
Data from Sentinel-3B Synthetic Aperture Radar Mode (SARM) satellite altimeter passes, processed by aligning repeat cycles to a common synthetic track and calculating median profiles.
Time Range
Covers repeat cycles 19 to 38 of the Sentinel-3B mission.
Freshness
2026-03 06 00:02:26.692992
Geography
Global coverage between latitudes -81.419 and +81.419 degrees.
Primary data format is NetCDF (result_s3b_sarm_stack.nc); users must be familiar with this format and relevant scientific libraries for access. The dataset appears on multiple platforms (NASA EarthData and Data.gov) with slightly conflicting metadata.