Sentinel-6A: Low-Resolution Ocean Surface Topography from Radar Altimeter

Sentinel-6A MF Jason-CS provides low-resolution, non-time-critical measurements of ocean surface topography. The dataset includes sea surface height anomaly, significant wave height, and wind speed, derived from 1 Hz and 20 Hz radar altimeter data with environmental and instrument corrections. Its 60-day latency product is analogous to the Jason-3 GDR geophysical data record.

Use Cases

• Monitoring long-term sea-level rise trends based on sea surface height anomaly (SSHA) measurements.
• Analyzing ocean wave climate and storm impacts using significant wave height (SWH) data.
• Studying ocean-atmosphere interactions and wind forcing using derived wind speed measurements.
• Validating and calibrating ocean circulation models with corrected altimeter range and geophysical data.

Strengths

• Provides multiple measurement frequencies, including detailed 20 Hz radar altimeter data.
• Includes comprehensive environmental and instrument range corrections for geophysical accuracy.
• Dataset is hosted by NASA, indicating a credible and authoritative source.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low; specific column names, row counts, and file sizes are not provided.
• Has a significant 60-day latency, making it unsuitable for near-real-time applications.
• License is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without clear terms.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Measurements gathered by the Sentinel-6A MF (Jason-CS) satellite radar altimeter.

Freshness

Last updated on 2026-04-09 according to datagov.

Geography

Global ocean coverage.