Sentinel-6A MF: High-Resolution Ocean Surface Topography from Altimetry

Sentinel-6A Michael Freilich's Poseidon-4 SAR altimeter provides L2 high-resolution short time critical data with a 36-hour latency. This dataset contains Sea Surface Height, Sea Surface Height Anomalies, and Significant Wave Height, along with 1 Hz and 20 Hz Ku-band measurements and corrections from the AMR-C instrument. The product is analogous to the Jason-3 IGDR product, offering geophysical parameters for ocean surface monitoring.

Use Cases

• Monitoring sea level rise and ocean circulation patterns based on Sea Surface Height Anomalies (SSHA).
• Forecasting wave conditions for maritime safety using Significant Wave Height (SWH) and wind-speed data.
• Calibrating and validating ocean models with high-resolution (1 Hz and 20 Hz) Ku-band altimetry measurements.
• Studying mesoscale ocean eddies and fronts using the high-resolution short time critical product.

Strengths

• Provides data with a short time critical latency of 36 hours, enabling near-real-time applications.
• Includes geophysical parameters at two sampling rates (1 Hz and 20 Hz), offering both overview and detailed measurements.
• Data is produced by a recognized space agency (NASA), indicating a standardized processing chain.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable across all platform entries.
• License is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without clear terms for reuse.
• The dataset's temporal and spatial coverage is not explicitly defined in the provided metadata.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the Poseidon-4 SAR altimeter on the Sentinel-6A Michael Freilich spacecraft.

Freshness

2026-04-09 22:22:15.188735

Geography

Global ocean coverage, inferred from satellite altimetry mission.