Researched
Satellite Altimetry & Sea Level
TOPEX/Poseidon (launched 10 August 1992) measured ocean height from orbit to a few centimetres and began the continuous global sea-level record.
Open in the interactive tree →A radar altimeter times echoes from the sea surface; TOPEX/Poseidon covered 95% of the ice-free ocean to 3.3 cm, with Jason-1 (2001), Jason-2 (2008) and Jason-3 (2016) continuing the record. Satellites found a rise of about 7.5 cm from 1993 to 2017, and a rate of 4.62 mm per year in 2013-2022.
Prerequisites
Unlocks
- GRACE Gravity Satellites2002GRACE's ocean-mass data separate the causes of the sea-level rise altimeters measure
- SWOT Wide-Swath Water Survey2022SWOT widens single-track altimetry from TOPEX/Poseidon to a swath