Jul 16, 2026

NASA’s Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC) is pleased to announce the initial release of datasets from the Sentinel-6B radar altimeter mission, which aims to provide high-precision measurements of global sea-level that build upon the extensive record of observation from the previous Jason series altimetry missions.

This release includes the level 1B (L1B) and level 2 (L2) low resolution (LR) altimetry from the Poseidon-4 (P4) SAR altimeter and geophysical information from the Advanced Microwave Radiometer (AMR-C). Calibration and validation (cal/val) is complete for the Near Real Time (NRT) and Short Time Critical (STC) datasets, so future acquisitions will be accessible to users immediately after delivery to PO.DAAC. The data detailed in this release are available with a start date of 16 July 2026. The NRT and STC datasets are delivered approximately 3 and 36 hours after acquisition, respectively.

L2 altimetry datasets are provided in “standard” and “reduced” forms. Sea Surface Height Anomaly (SSHA), Significant Wave Height (SWH), and Wind Speed are included in all L2 altimetry datasets. Standard datasets also include both 1 Hz and 20 Hz measurements from the P4 radar altimeter, orbit altitude, environmental range corrections, instrument corrections, and geophysical models. Please also see the Product Notice that describes this release.

 

The datasets are described and discoverable via Earthdata Search and the following landing pages:

• JASON_CS_S6B_L1A_ALT_HR_STC_G
• JASON_CS_S6B_L1B_ALT_HR_STC_G
• JASON_CS_S6B_L1B_ALT_LR_STC_G
• JASON_CS_S6B_L2_ALT_HR_RED_OST_NRT_G
• JASON_CS_S6B_L2_ALT_HR_RED_OST_STC_G
• JASON_CS_S6B_L2_ALT_HR_STD_OST_NRT_G
• JASON_CS_S6B_L2_ALT_HR_STD_OST_STC_G
• JASON_CS_S6B_L2_ALT_LR_RED_OST_NRT_G
• JASON_CS_S6B_L2_ALT_LR_RED_OST_STC_G
• JASON_CS_S6B_L2_ALT_LR_STD_OST_NRT_G
• JASON_CS_S6B_L2_ALT_LR_STD_OST_STC_G
• JASON_CS_S6B_L2_AMR_RAD_NRT
• JASON_CS_S6B_L2_AMR_RAD_STC

 

If you have questions, please contact podaac@podaac.jpl.nasa.gov or visit PO.DAAC on Earthdata Forum.

 

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User Services Office
NASA JPL Physical Oceanography DAAC
E-mail: podaac@podaac.jpl.nasa.gov
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