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Jason-2 GDR-F reprocessing available

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 12:32:53 +0000

The instructions to access the data, and the changes compared with the previous GDR-D standard, are given in the release note.
This release includes the Level 2 Geophysical Data Record (GDR) for the whole Jason-2 mission, more than eleven years, from cycle 0 pass 61 (July, 4th 2008) to cycle 644 pass 165 (October, 1st 2019).

The Jason-2 GDR-F standard is exactly aligned with the Jason-3 GDR-F standard.

The user documentation is available on AVISO website :

Feel free to contact us for any question (aviso@altimetry.fr)

Data Access

If you already have an AVISO account, you can access the data via the following services:
FTP access: ftp://ftp-access.aviso.altimetry.fr:21
SFTP access: sftp://ftp-access.aviso.altimetry.fr:2122
Path:
- /geophysical-data-record/jason-2
and on Thredds Data Server (TDS):
- No account required: TDS access is open and does not require an AVISO account.
- Jason-2 : THREDDS Catalog for L2 Jason-2

Jason-2 altimetry satellite decommissioned after more than 11 years of ocean monitoring

Tue, 08 Oct 2019 08:36:13 +0000

Jason-2 was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on 20 June 2008. Designed to last just 3 to 5 years, Jason-2 exceeded all expectations lasting more than 11 years, and equaling the record of its predecessor Jason-1. Measurements made by the Jason-2 Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM) payload instruments allowed researchers to monitor sea surface topography with extreme precision and provided unique insight into ocean currents, and was a powerful tool for climate monitoring, marine forecasting, and meteorology. See the Press Release

[Jason-2] Happy birthday Jason-2

Thu, 20 Jun 2019 14:22:51 +0000

Eleven years ago, on June 20, 2008, Jason-2 was successfully launched as a result of a collaboration between CNES, NASA, EUMETSAT and NOAA. June 20, 2008. From the California base at Vandenberg, the Delta-2 rocket was launched to put the satellite into orbit. A few hours later, the payload instruments were on (the DORIS 1 precise orbit determination and positioning system at 18:45, the POSEIDON3-1 altimeter at 11:12, the AMR-H radiometer at 11:38, and the GPSPA at 11:40). Only two days later, the first near-real-time "OGDR" product was processed at CNES premises while NOAA and EUMETSAT began operational production in mid-July. Today, after more than 60,000 orbits around the Earth, Jason-2 is still in service with excellent performance in measuring ocean surface heights and we hope it will continue.

Further information:

The mission Jason-2
Mission performance
Jason-2 videos on altimetry applications

Happy Birthday Jason-2!

Thu, 21 Jun 2018 08:37:00 +0000

On June 20^th, the OSTM/Jason-2 mission (Ocean Surface Topography Mission) marks its 10^th year in orbit. Jason-2 has now completed 47,000 orbital revolutions of our planet, acquiring measurements of unequalled precision from more than 300 million radar pulses.

Jason-2 has enabled numerous scientists all over the world to gain new insights into the ocean phenomena playing a key role in our planetâs changing climate. Extending the long series of measurements started in 1992 with TOPEX/Poseidon and then continued by Jason-1, it has quantified and provided evidence for the mean rise in sea level of three millimetres a year, which today is undisputable and a crucial indicator for assessing and planning for the impacts of climate change that are proving dramatic for certain coastal regions and islands.

Letâs wish a long life to Jason 2 on LRO !

[Jason-2] : Data production resumed - first products available

Thu, 27 Jul 2017 09:30:00 +0000

On 20 June 2017, the 4-Partner Joint Steering Group directed the Jason-2 Project to undertake a series of maneuvers to reduce the orbit semi-major axis by 27 km. This has placed Jason-2 into a new long-repeat orbit (LRO) at roughly 1309.5 km altitude. Final orbit transfer activities were completed on 10 July 2017. At 09:16 UTC on Tuesday, 11 July, CNES control centre successfully commanded the restart of the core Jason-2 payload instruments. Before authorizing data dissemination, we have performed a lot of controls, calval analysis and cross-calibrations in order to guarantee the quality of the products. Meanwhile, this period has been useful to prepare a detailed technical note about the characteristics of the new orbit and impacts on new products. Please find attached the note prepared by MSEâs. As was the case with Jason-1, science cycle numbering for the new LRO mission phase on Jason-2 will begin at Cycle 500. Today, we recover the OSTM/Jason-2 mission from the extended safe hold it has been in since 17 May 2017 and we are pleased to announce that Jason-2 OGDR and IGDR are available for dissemination. First OGDR is for pass 031 of cycle 500. First IGDR is for pass 033 of cycle 500. They are available through the usual facilities. We hope to keep Jason-2 operational for a long time, Best regards, T. Guinle on behalf the whole Jason-2 Project Team PS : The move of Jason-2 from the altimetry reference orbit was a difficult decision to take, but it also signals the start of an exciting new chapter in the extraordinary mission of Jason-2, as it begins its 10^th year of operation.

[Jason-2] Back to routine operations after orbit change

Mon, 17 Oct 2016 13:24:00 +0000

We are happy to report that OSTM/Jason-2 has successfully completed its transfer to the interleaved orbit. Thanks to the operational teams efforts, all the planned activities have been executed during the transit and we are very happy to report that the satellite behavior was excellent during this period. In particular, the propulsion system was fully operational that is very good for our future plans on OSTM/Jason-2.

We are now on the targeted ground track and the POSEIDON3 altimeter is back to operation since October 14th, 20:00:00 UTC. Data production has also resumed and the first OGDRs on the interleaved orbit are available to Users. The first one is : JA2_OPN_2PdS305_164_20161013_200000_20161013_212544.nc

IGDR production will resume today and after a quick validation step, the products will be distributed to Users on 2016/10/17.

I suppose that you will join me in thanking all the operational teams who have made this success possible.

T. Guinle on behalf the OSTM/Jason-2 project managers from CNES, JPL, NOAA and EUMETSAT See our previous news about the Jason-2 orbit change.

[Jason-2] : Decision to move the satellite to the interleaved orbit

Wed, 14 Sep 2016 13:08:00 +0000

Dear Aviso+ users,

After approval by the Joint Steering Group held yesterday (12 Sept 2016), the OSTM/Jason-2 satellite will be moved to a new ground track early October after the end of repeat cycle 303, after more than 8 years of service on the nominal ground track. The Jason-3 satellite will continue the long term climate data record on the primary Topex, Jason-1, and OSTM/Jason-2 ground track.

The OSTM/Jason-2 satellite will be moved to the same interleaved orbit that was used by Topex from 2002-2005 and Jason-1 from 2009-2012. Several maneuvers will be performed beginning on October 2nd , 2016, with the interleaved orbit achieved by October 14, 2016.

Please note the following regarding the new OSTM/Jason-2 orbit.

OSTM/Jason-2 will use the same pass numbering scheme adopted by Topex and Jason-1 in the interleaved ground track. However, the start time of the OSTM/Jason-2 and Jason-3 repeat cycles will differ by approximately 5 days.
The first OSTM/Jason-2 repeat cycle on the new interleaved ground track will be numbered repeat cycle 305.
The OSTM/Jason-2 altimeter will be placed in wait mode during the transition to the new ground track. This may have some impact on the calibration of the AMRadiometer, due to changes in the spacecraft thermal environment. Re-calibration of AMR will be performed if necessary.
Data production (OGDR, IGDR and GDR) will be stopped during the transit to the interleaved orbit. It will restart during cycle 305 with the same requirements for data latency and quality.


Jason-2 on its interleaved orbit after October 2016 (yellow) that was the same for Topex/Poseidon (after Sept.2002) and Jason-1 (after Feb.2009). The red ground tracks correspond to the Jason-2 nominal orbit (from 2008-Oct.2016) that is used by Jason-3 today. Download Google Earth files with Jason-3, Jason-2, Jason-1 and Topex/Poseidon ground tracks on nominal or interleaved orbits.

This is the initial plan as approved by the Joint Steering group. Next messages will confirm the start of activities and also when the satellite will be back to nominal operations.

T. Guinle
on behalf the OSTM/Jason-2 project managers from CNES, JPL, NOAA and EUMETSAT

Special Issue: Jason-2 three years in orbit!

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 13:18:00 +0000

Three years after reaching its working orbit, this is a special issue on Jason-2 that still provides extremely high levels of data availability, quality and performance stability. See these calibration results, the major scientific results and the program background on the Special Issue (pdf)

Further information:

Mission Jason-2: Jason-2, Three years in orbit

Jason-2 - three years in orbit !!!

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 12:51:00 +0000

With now 3 years in orbit, Jason-2 is fulfilling all mission expectations and provides state of the art quality data to more than 2000 teams around the world. Since the beginning of the mission data availability is very high thanks to a very reliable system and associated ground procedures. Jason-2 is the continuation of the existing successful cooperation between the United States and Europe. Cnes and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) are responsible for satellite operations, while the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) manages the mission for Nasa. Data processing is carried out by Cnes, Eumetsat and Noaa, depending on the type of product. Further information

Missions: Jason-2, three

Hurricane Oli seen by altimetry

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:41:00 +0000

Islands of French Polynesia in Pacific Ocean have been hit by the hurricane Oli since the beginning of February. Oli is classified in Category 4 (winds > 213 km/h) on February 4 off Bora-Bora islands. Rainfall and high seas have damaged lands. During the current El NiÃ±o episode, the Eastern Pacific hurricane season may be more active.
A parameter nammed Tropical Cyclonic Heat Potential (TCHP) integrates the sea level anomalies with the in-situ sea surface temperature and the mixed layer depth. Computed around the area, the TCHP shows important values (more than 140 kJ/cmÂ²) at the end of January.


left: Hurricane Oli intensity overlayed on a merged (SLA) map for the 5th of February. The hurricane intensity scale is purple for a tropical depression, blue for cat. 1, green for cat. 2, yellow for cat. 3, orange for cat.4 and red for category 5. The dates near the path indicates the date when the hurricane passed (Credits CLS/Cnes Ssalto/Duacs). right: hurricane heat potential computed from altimetry and in-situ data on January 27, 2010, with trajectory and intensity of Oli overlayed. Credits CLS.

left: Hurricane Oli intensity overlayed on a merged (SLA) map for the 5th of February. The hurricane intensity scale is purple for a tropical depression, blue for cat. 1, green for cat. 2, yellow for cat. 3, orange for cat.4 and red for category 5. The dates near the path indicates the date when the hurricane passed (Credits CLS/Cnes Ssalto/Duacs).
right: hurricane heat potential computed from altimetry and in-situ data on January 27, 2010, with trajectory and intensity of Oli overlayed. Credits CLS.

Report from OSTST Seattle meeting completed

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:44:00 +0000

The meeting report for the 2009 OSTST Meeting in Seattle is now complete. The full report is available on the Ocean Surface Topography Science Team Meeting website.

Hurricane Jimena seen by Jason-2

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 08:10:00 +0000

Jimena began as a tropical depression on the 28^th of August off Mexico. It intensified rapidly as it was moving northward. It became a powerful hurricane Category 5, the 1^st of September when it approached the Southern part of the Baja California peninsula (300 km from Mexican coasts). Jimena weakened to Category 2 the 1^st of September but its activity is still affecting the area with rains and tides higher than normal.


Hurricane Jimena intensity overlayed on a merged (SLA) map for the 1st of September. The hurricane intensity scale is purple for a tropical depression, blue for cat. 1, green for cat. 2, yellow for cat. 3, orange for cat.4 and red for category 5. The dates near the path indicates the date when the typhoon passed (Credits CLS/Cnes Ssalto/Duacs).

Significant wave heights and waves speed deduced from the near-real time data of the OSTM/Jason-2 echo radar altimeter show the strength of the hurricane all along its path. Significant wave heights of more than 5 m and wind speed close to 25 m/s are observed along the pass 028 (5 September) at the South of Baja California peninsula.


Significant Wave Heigth in m (left) and Wind speed modulus (right) in m/s over the Eastern Pacific from the IGDR of OSTM/Jason-2. The passes comprises between 104 and 245 of the cycle 042 and passes between 17 to 93 of the cycle 043 flew over the area between the 26^th of August and the 05^th of September 2009, just as the hurricane was there.

Typhoon Morakot seen by Jason-2

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:10:00 +0000

Typhoon Morakot crossed the China Sea from east to north-west early in August 2009. Huge damages were mainly caused by torrential rains in the island of Taiwan. Beginning with tropical depression in the Pacific Ocean, Morakot is strengthened until the Category 2 just before it tracked the island of Taiwan. Merged maps of Sea Level Anomalies in near-real time on the 5^th of August show a positive anomaly (red area) just before the typhon went from the Category 1 to the Category 2.


Typhoon Morakot intensity overlayed on a merged (SLA) map for the 05th of August. The hurricane intensity scale is purple for a tropical depression, blue for cat. 1, green for cat. 2, yellow for cat. 3, orange for cat.4 and red for category 5. The dates near the path indicates the date when the typhoon passed (Credits CLS/Cnes Ssalto/Duacs).

Significant wahe heights and waves speed deduce from the near-real time data of the OSTM/Jason-2 echo radar altimeter also show the strength of the typhoon all along its path. Significant wave heights closed to 10 m and wind speed closed to 30 m/s are observed along the pass 127 (7 August) east from the Island of Taiwan.


Significant Wave Heigth in m (left) and Wind speed modulus (right) in m/s over the western Pacific from the IGDR of OSTM/Jason-2. The passes comprises between 062 and 240 flew over the area between the 05^th and the 12^th of August 2009, just as the typhoon was there.

Public Release of the Jason-2 Geophysical Data Records

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:00:00 +0000

The GDRs are Level 2 data, meaning, along-track altimetric measurements positioned and timed telemetry dated. They are expressed in physical units and qualified. These measurements are associated with the corrections to apply for overcoming measurement errors (instrumental, due to signal propagation in the atmosphere, perturbation by the sea surface state, etc.) and geophysical processes such as tides or load effects. The experts of the Ocean Surface Topography Science Team (OSTST) found that these GDRs are demonstrating excellent data quality, and consistency with the Jason-1 GDRs. As a result, at its June 2009 meeting in Seattle, the OSTST recommended the release of the Jason-2/OSTM GDRs. As a result, the public are invited to proceed with analyses based on the current version of the Jason-2 GDRs (version 'T'). All the GDRs products are now available since launch, 20-Jun-2008, from the following two sources:
1) CNES/AVISO's site : http://www.aviso.oceanobs.com/index.php?id=1458
2) NOAA's CLASS site : http://www.class.noaa.gov These products are computed at CNES in NetCDF file format. 3 types of files are available:
- a GDR-T native NetCDF formatted datasets ("standard product");
- a reduced 1 Hz subset of the full dataset (SSHA-GDR-T);
- an expert sensor product containing the full radar-echo waveforms (SGDR-T). For details and limitations, please refer to:
http://www.aviso.oceanobs.com/fileadmin/documents/data/products/Jason-2_GDR_T_disclaimer.pdf

The DEM was successfully uploaded on OSTM/Jason-2

Fri, 15 May 2009 09:09:00 +0000

The DEM upload was finished the 13^th of May around 13:15 UTC, and the altimeter Poseidon-3 was successfully restarted. The system will experience no more data loss due to this uploading, and the DEM assessment is currently in progress by the experts.

Missing measurements for the altimeter Poseidon-3 on Jason-2 during the DEM upload from the 2009/05/11 12:00 UTC to 2009/05/13 13:15 UTC. Measurements were particularly missing over the "visibility circles" of the Jason-2 ground stations: Usingen (USG), Wallops (WCDAS), and Fairbanks (FCDAS). Credits Ssalto/Duacs.

For the record:

The Poseidon-3 altimeter equipped with a DEM
News of the Jason-2 mission: Interruption of OSTM/Jason-2 altimetry data (2009/05/11)

Exceptional flood on the Amazon river

Thu, 14 May 2009 08:26:00 +0000

Since the beginning of the year, the Amazon basin is going through a severe flood. All its major tributaries were filled simultaneously to rise the Amazon waters whereas usually their flood peak spead out over time. In situ water level measurements made by a Brazilian-French partnership near ObidÃ²s (at 125 km downstream of the curves shown below) found a level never reached. In isolated areas, in situ measurement systems suffer in particular from maintenance problems, not to mention difficulties related to distribution and intercalibration of data. Satellite remote-sensing techniques and in particularly, satellite altimetry have enabled new hydrological applications to be developed for monitoring fluctuations in continental waters. For rivers, flooded areas, etc., the level, flow rate, profile, slope, volume, levelling and water balance can all be measured in this way.


Locations of areas (in yellow) where the curves below are plotted.

Rise of the water levels measured by OSTM/Jason-2 on the Amazon river and its neighbouring areas, nearby the town of Parintins (between Manaus and ObidÃ²s). The water level is risen of 6 m during the last four months over these two areas.

These measurements were done under pass 139 and pass 228, from cycle 18 (2008/12/28 - 2009/01/06) to cycle 30 (2009/04/17 - 2009/05/05) and are provided by Pistach project (IGDR products with a specific treatment adapted to continental waters). The curves are drawn with the Basic Radar Altimetry Toolbox. Credits CLS/Cnes.

Further information:

Pistach project, data
Applications: Hydrology
Nasa Earth Observatory, Heavy Rain Floods Brazil (May 2009)

Interruption of OSTM/Jason-2 altimetry data

Mon, 11 May 2009 07:31:00 +0000

An improved digital elevation model (DEM) will be uploaded to the Jason-2/OSTM satellite starting on Monday, May 11, 2009 at 12:00 UTC and will continue through Wednesday May 13, 2009, 15:00 UTC. While the DEM is uploading, no Poseidon-3 altimetry data will be collected over the "visibility circle" of the Jason-2 ground stations: Usingen (USG), Wallops (WCDAS), and Fairbanks (FCDAS). The data loss will be mostly over land, but some ocean data loss may be observed during the
DEM upload activity. As a consequence, the production of OGDRs, IGDRs, and GDRs will be impacted.

Jason-2 in Ssalto/Duacs multimission data: transition goes smoothly

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 09:15:00 +0000

Preparing for the Jason-1 orbit shift that will begin January 26, the Ssalto/Duacs multi-mission processing was modified to have Jason-2 as reference mission instead of Jason-1. Looking at maps using Jason-1 and the similar one (one day later) using Jason-2 (plus Envisat in both cases), no discrepancy is visible; the ocean topography has changed a bit, but no leap is visible nor differences. Once Jason-1 reach its new orbit, and the data are validated, Jason-1 will re-enter this multi-mission processing, but as a "new" mission, providing a better geographical/temporal sampling than when the two satellites were on the same track, at 55 s from each other.

Absolute Dynamic Topography Maps from Ssalto/Duacs processing. First two maps (representing the situation on 2009/01/13 and 2009/01/14) were produced using Jason-1 as reference mission, the last one (2009/01/15) using Jason-2. See also the animation of those three maps. No leap is visible on those maps.

Jason-2 IGDR products available

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 10:26:00 +0000

Jason-2 IGDR products are available on AVISO server from now. These products are computed at CNES...

OSTM/Jason-2 IGDR data available

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 08:47:00 +0000

In the frame of a cooperation between Cnes, Eumetsat, Nasa and Noaa, OSTM/Jason-2 takes over and continues Topex/Poseidon and Jason-1 missions. After the near real-time data release last December (OGDR) on Eumetsat and Noaa services, The IGDR dara are now available on Aviso and Noaa servers. The IGDR family of files are datasets produced within two calendar days. They are produced solely by Cnes. These data are not fully validated (elementary and automatic controls only) and are derived from Doris data with the processing of a preliminary orbit. The environmental and geophysical corrections (preliminary for some of them) are included. Three types of files are available with increasing size and complexity:

a IGDR native NetCDF formatted datasets which contain 1Hz records as well as 20 Hz high-rate values;
a reduced 1Hz subset of the full dataset (IGDR-SSHA);
an expert sensor product containing the full radar-echo waveforms (S-IGDR);

Further information :

OSTM/Jason-2 Products Handbook, SALP-MU-M-OP-15815-CN, Ed 1.2, November 2008, pdf version (1.1 Mb).