Sentinel-6A MF: High-Resolution Non-Time-Critical Ocean Altimetry

Sentinel-6A Michael Freilich's Poseidon-4 SAR altimeter provides high-resolution, non-time-critical sea surface topography data with a 60-day latency. This L2P product includes derived geophysical sea-state variables like significant wave height and wind speed, corrected for environmental factors by the AMR-C instrument. Its data structure is analogous to the Jason-3 GDR product, offering continuity for long-term ocean climate records.

Use Cases

• Monitoring long-term sea-level rise trends based on precise altimeter range and orbital altitude measurements.
• Analyzing ocean wave climate and storm impacts using the significant wave height and wind speed data.
• Correcting satellite-derived sea surface height for atmospheric delays using the included water vapor and environmental correction data.
• Validating and calibrating other satellite altimeter missions by leveraging the product's designated role as a reference.

Strengths

• Provides high-resolution (HR) data from the advanced Poseidon-4 SAR altimeter.
• Includes multiple geophysical corrections (environmental, range) supplied by the AMR-C instrument, enhancing accuracy.
• Maintained by a major space agency (NASA), indicating institutional support and standardized processing.

Limitations

• Key metadata like row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable across all platforms.
• Has a significant 60-day latency (Non-Time-Critical), making it unsuitable for near-real-time applications.
• License is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without explicit terms provided.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Derived from L1B altimetry data collected by the Poseidon-4 SAR altimeter on the Sentinel-6A Michael Freilich spacecraft.

Freshness

Last updated metadata recorded on 2026-03-13.

Geography

Global ocean coverage from the satellite's orbit.