Sentinel-6A MF: L1B Low Resolution Altimeter Waveforms

NASA's Sentinel-6A Michael Freilich spacecraft provides L1B low resolution altimetry data from its Poseidon-4 SAR instrument. This short time critical product contains geolocated, fully-calibrated pulse-limited power echoes for ocean surface observation. The dataset is analogous to the Jason-3 IGDR product, offering a 36-hour latency for time-sensitive applications.

Use Cases

• Monitoring sea surface height anomalies based on calibrated altimeter waveforms.
• Estimating significant wave height from low resolution power echo data.
• Validating ocean wave models using geolocated, time-critical satellite observations.
• Continuity studies for long-term sea level records, analogous to Jason-3 data.

Strengths

• Data is from a dedicated, state-of-the-art satellite mission (Sentinel-6A Michael Freilich).
• Provides a short time critical product with a defined 36-hour latency for operational use.
• Waveforms are fully-calibrated and geolocated, ensuring readiness for scientific analysis.

Limitations

• Column names and detailed schema are not provided by any source, limiting precise understanding of data structure.
• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and temporal coverage are consistently missing across all platforms.
• License is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without explicit terms.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Collected by the Poseidon-4 SAR altimeter on the Sentinel-6A Michael Freilich spacecraft.

Time Range

null

Freshness

2026-04-09 22:05:26.207530

Geography

Global ocean coverage, inferred from satellite altimetry mission.