Types of dataset: Experimental Ssalto/Duacs gridded monomission and multimission altimeter products dedicated to Polar Oceans. This dataset is one of the experimental products which are available on the SSALTO/DUACS experimental products

DOI: 10.24400/527896/AVISO-2026.005   -  more metadata

Contents: sea level heights computed with respect to a twenty-year mean. 

Condition of access : Users should keep in mind that these products are experimental products. Notably, they are not produced on an operational basis. 

Description: Experimental gridded level-4 product of Sea Surface height Anomalies and geostrophic velocities from 50°N up to 88°N for the Arctic Ocean and 50°S to 88°S for the Southern Ocean. 
The products include ice-covered regions using sea level observations within the leads (open water area within a fracture of sea ice). Waveform classification of satellite echoes is performed to differentiate leads and open ocean from floes measurements using neural-network-based classification method. Then the missions are cross calibrated on SARAL/AltiKa and the Sea Level Anomalies along-track data from 3 altimetry missions are generated (10.24400/527896/AVISO-2026.004). The gridded products are computed using several types of mapping method (Optimal Interpolation (OI) or Multiscale Interpolation Ocean Science Topography (MIOST)).

Therefore, the files available are:

• 3 monomission gridded files using Optimal Interpolation (OI) mapping method: SARAL/AltiKa, Cryosat-2 and Copernicus Sentinel-3A
• multimission gridded files combining the 3 satellites using Optimal Interpolation (OI) mapping method
• multimission gridded files combining the 3 satellites using Multiscale Interpolation Ocean Science Topography (MIOST) mapping method

Citation: When using the SSALTO/DUACS experimental products, please cite: "The Polar Ocean Gridded Level-4 Sea Surface Heights and Velocities Experimental Product is processed by SSALTO/DUACS and freely distributed by AVISO. CNES, & CLS. (2026). Experimental Polar Ocean Gridded Level-4 Sea Surface Heights and Velocities (Version 2.0) [Data set]. CNES. doi.org/10.24400/527896/AVISO-2026.005”.

Geographic coverage: Polar Oceans: 50°N to 88°N for Arctic Ocean and 50°S to 88°S for Southern Ocean. 

Tools and references: 

• User handbook: SSALTO/DUACS experimental products handbook: SLA for polar Oceans
• Veillard P, Prandi P, Pujol M-I, Daguzé J-A, Piras F, Dibarboure G and Faugère Y (2024) Arctic and Southern Ocean polar sea level maps and along-tracks from multi-mission satellite altimetry from 2011 to 2021. Front. Mar. Sci. 11:1419132. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1419132
• Veillard, P., Prandi, P., Auger, M., Faugere, Y., and Dibarboure, G.: Sea level maps of the Arctic (and southern) ocean from satellite altimetry from 2011 to 2021, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-7859, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-7859 , 2023.
• Prandi et al., OSTST 2022: Benefits of multi-altimeter combination for Arctic sea surface height retrievals, https://doi.org/10.24400/527896/a03-2022.3306
• Auger, M., Sallée, J.-B., Prandi, P., & Naveira Garabato, A. C. (2022). Subpolar Southern Ocean seasonal variability of the geostrophic circulation from multi-mission satellite altimetry. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 127, e2021JC018096. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JC018096
• Prandi, P., Poisson, J.-C., Faugère, Y., Guillot, A., and Dibarboure, G., 2021: Arctic sea surface height maps from multi-altimeter combination, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 5469–5482, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5469-2021
• Study with those products: Bonaduce et al., OSTST 2022, Exploitation of high-resolution datasets for sea level studies in the Nordic Seas and Arctic Ocean

Copyright: 2010-2022 - CNES/CLS