MEaSUREs Gridded Sea Surface Height Anomalies on a 1/6-Degree Grid

Gridded Sea Surface Height Anomalies (SSHA) above a mean sea surface, provided on a 1/6th degree grid every 5 days. The dataset is produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) using Kriging interpolation on data from multiple satellite altimeters, including the TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason series. Data has a processing delay of up to 3 months and was last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling ocean circulation and eddy detection based on gridded sea surface height anomalies.
• Analyzing sea level rise trends over time based on the 5-day temporal resolution and multi-satellite source data.
• Calibrating and validating other oceanographic models based on the fully corrected height data.
• Studying mesoscale ocean phenomena based on the high-resolution 1/6th degree spatial grid.

Strengths

• Data is derived from a long-term, multi-mission record of satellite altimeters, including TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1 through Jason-3, and Sentinel-6.
• Provides data on a consistent 1/6th degree spatial grid and a 5-day temporal window.
• Heights are fully corrected and processed using Kriging interpolation for optimal prediction.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data has a known latency of up to 3 months from observation to publication.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Derived from along-track SSHA data of multiple satellite altimeters, interpolated to a grid using Kriging.

Time Range

Temporal coverage depends on the contributing satellite mission dates.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 00:34:20.512443; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global ocean coverage.