We are pleased to inform you that the reprocessing of SWOT Version D KaRIn products is now complete. 
Users are encouraged to only use Version D products, as the time series in now complete. 
Reprocessed products are available at the NASA PO.DAAC and CNES (Aviso and HydroWeb) distribution centers. 

Version D products have been generated for all measurements spanning the start of the calibration phase to present and consist of: 

1. Reprocessed products for measurements from the start of the calibration phase (~March 30, 2023) through cycle 32 (~May 18, 2025). Reprocessed version D products can be identified by the “PGD0” identifier in the file names.
2. Forward-processed products for measurements from cycle 33 (~May 19, 2025) onward. Forward-processed version D products can be identified by the “PID0” identifier in the file names. 

The release note for the Version D products is attached here, noting that the actual reprocessing period is as described in this email. 

The release note is also available at the following link, along with other relevant documents: https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/SWOT?tab=datasets-information§ions=about  

As a reminder, users should always use the product granules with the highest product counter. 

We also take this opportunity to inform you that KaRIn Low Rate (Ocean) Products have also been generated, where possible, for the SWOT commissioning phase. 
Users are advised to use extreme caution with the KaRIn Low Rate products from this period (Jan 18, 2023 to March 29, 2023). 
The KaRIn instrument was undergoing various commissioning activities during this period. 
As such, the Version D KaRIn instrument calibrations used to process data from this period may not be always be applicable, and gaps in the time series are known to exist. 

There are no plans to reprocess the KaRIn High Rate (Hydrology) Products for the commissioning phase period.

Search and download SWOT altimetry products (CLI or Python) from the AVISO catalog, via HTTPS or OpenDAP subsetting.
CNES GitHub repository: https://cnes.github.io/altimetry-downloader-aviso/

from altimetry_downloader_aviso import get

local_files = get(
   "SWOT_L3_LR_SSH_Basic",
   output_dir="aviso_dir",
   cycle_number=7,
   pass_number=[12, 13],
)

2. Altimetry Search

Find SWOT mission passes by date and area (Python API or Binder GUI).
CNES GitHub repository: https://github.com/CNES/altimetry-search

import numpy
from altimetry.search import Mission, get_selected_passes

selected_passes = get_selected_passes(
   Mission.SWOT_SWATH_SCIENCE,
   date=numpy.datetime64("2024-01-01"),
)

3. Altimetry-io

Unified reading of NetCDF altimetry collections (SWOT L2/L3, Nadir L2/L3), independent of underlying file layout.
CNES GitHub repository: https://github.com/CNES/altimetry-io

from altimetry.io import AltimetryData, FileCollectionSource

alti_data = AltimetryData(
   source=FileCollectionSource(path="data_dir", ftype="SWOT_L3_LR_SSH", subset="Unsmoothed")
)
ds = alti_data.query_orbit(cycle_number=13, pass_number=[153, 155],
                          variables=["time", "latitude", "longitude", "ssha_unedited"])

4. FCollections

Core library for querying a file or dataset collections by filename and folder metadata. Used as a dependency by Altimetry-io.
CNES GitHub repository: https://cnes.github.io/fcollections/

from fcollections.implementations import NetcdfFilesDatabaseSwotLRL3

fc = NetcdfFilesDatabaseSwotLRL3("data")
fc.query(cycle_number=1, pass_number=1)

All four packages are open-source (BSD-3-Clause / Apache 2.0) and available on the SWOT-community GitHub repository: https://swot-community.github.io/SWOT-galleries/tools.html.

This new version aligns the Unsmoothed content with the Level-3 Basic and Expert (2 km resolution) products released last Fall. The algorithms, standards, and calibration are now consistent across the products. The new Unsmoothed release also features a few algorithms that are specific to the 250-m resolution (e.g., sea-ice, rain rate...). Some Level-3 processing steps have been improved specifically for the Unsmoothed, namely valid data selection, calibration, and denoising (we think we fixed the main deficiencies of the previous version 2.0.1). Further details on these developments are described in this presentation and the SWOT Level-3 Product Handbook.

A new version of the AVISO Licence Agreement is now available. In addition to the official licence, a Plain Language Guide has been introduced to provide a simplified explanation of the main licence terms.

The AVISO Licence Agreement remains the only legally binding document. The Plain Language Guide is provided for informational purposes only.

Best regards,

The AVISO Team

During this period, new user registrations and website logins will not be possible.

Data access and download services will remain fully available. Existing users will continue to access and download data through FTP and TDS (THREDDS Data Server) without interruption.

We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.

The AVISO Team

Due to a major network incident on CNES production infrastructure, the altimetric data production has been strongly perturbated since Thursday, Sept. 3rd. This incident mainly impacts SWOT, CFOSAT and Jason-3 production. Teams are working hard to recover all production capabilities. Today, Friday Sept. 4th, it seems that we are near resolution of the incident, and will be able to restart nominal production soon. We will keep you informed when the nominal production status is recovered.

All this done and analyzed, the differences between S6MF and S6B in range and sea level are at the millimeter level, with slight differences well within uncertainty level. Similarly, no significant geographical pattern differences are observed. All in all, the performances of the system are compliant with the requirements (see Summary of the "S6VT meeting" and discussion for a detailed synthesis).

Such cross-comparisons of two similar satellites, launched on the same orbit is a key to ensure the continuity of the Sea Level measurements, and thus the Mean Sea Level time series’ one. It has been done since the first such relay done between Topex/Poseidon and Jason-1 (although testing the redundant instruments onboard has been new for S6-Michael Freilich)

In addition to this tandem, Swot measurements were used as independent source of measurements, and the coherence is also there.uring the Ocean Surface Topography Science Team and Sentinel-6 Validation Team meetings late June, these results led to declare Sentinel-6B fit for operation and for taking over as reference mission. Sentinel-6MF will be shifted on an interleaved orbit, to complement its predecessors’ measurements for a few years. 

• Data Access: L1B and L2 data are distributed by EUMETSAT on EUMETCast, the Data Store, and WIS2.0:
  • Poseidon-4 Altimetry Level 1B Low Resolution data
  • Poseidon-4 Altimetry Level 1B High Resolution data
  • Poseidon-4 Altimetry Level 2 Low Resolution data
  • Poseidon-4 Altimetry Level 2 High Resolution data
• The L1B and L2 datasets are described and also discoverable via the NASA's Earthdata portal.

Further information can be found at the links below:

-NASA's Earthdata: https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/data/alerts-outages/sentinel-6b-altimetry-nrt-stc-datasets-release

-EUMETSAT: https://user.eumetsat.int/news-events/news/release-of-sentinel-6-b-altimetry-data

1/ there is a new dataset of multimission gridded sea level heights and velocities in v2.0 obtained with the Multiscale Inversion of Ocean Surface Topography (MIOST) mapping approach. This method is fully described in Ubelmann et al. (2021) and has been successfully applied and validated in open-ocean regions (Ballarotta et al., 2023). This dataset is now available to the community and experts to gather further validation and feedback, with the goal of implementing it in production in the coming months or years.

2/ the multimission gridded sea level heights and velocities in v2.0 obtained with the Optimal Interpolation (OI) mapping method (Bretherton et al., 1976) has been actualized with the addition of the formal error variables. 

The methodology for the Polar Oceans products is detailed in Veillard et al., 2024.

All information:
Experimental Products: Polar Ocean Along-track Level-3 Sea Surface Heights: 10.24400/527896/AVISO-2026.004 
Experimental Products: Polar Ocean Gridded Level-4 Sea Surface Heights and Velocities: 10.24400/527896/AVISO-2026.005
Handbook : https://www.aviso.altimetry.fr/fileadmin/documents/data/tools/hdbk_duacs_experimental_SLA_polar_oceans.pdf

Data access:

CNES AVISO FTP/SFTP access (with AVISO+ credentials):

• ftp://ftp-access.aviso.altimetry.fr:21
• sftp://ftp-access.aviso.altimetry.fr:2221 
• L3: 
  • /duacs-experimental/dt-phy-along-track/polar 
• L4: 
  • /duacs-experimental/dt-phy-grids/polar_monomission 
  • /duacs-experimental/dt-phy-grids/polar_multimission 

CNES AVISO THREDDS Data Server access (with AVISO+ credentials): 

• L3: 
  • https://tds-odatis.aviso.altimetry.fr/thredds/catalog/L3/dataset-duacs-experimental-dt-phy-along-track-altimetry-polar-oceans.html 
• L4: 
  • https://tds-odatis.aviso.altimetry.fr/thredds/catalog/L4/dataset-duacs-experimental-dt-phy-grids-altimetry-polar-oceans.html 

References: 

Ballarotta, M., Ubelmann, C., Veillard, P., Prandi, P., Etienne, H., Mulet, S., Faugère, Y., Dibarboure, G., Morrow, R., and Picot, N.: Improved global sea surface height and current maps from remote sensing and in situ observations, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 295–315, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15- 295-2023, 2023.

Bretherton, F. P., Davis, R. E., and Fandry, C.: A technique for objective analysis and design of oceanographic instruments applied to MODE-73, Deep-Sea Res., 23, 559–582, https://doi.org/10.1016/0011-7471(76)90001-2, 1976.

Ubelmann, C., Dibarboure, G., Gaultier, L., Ponte, A., Ardhuin, F., Ballarotta, M., and Faugère, Y.: Reconstructing ocean surface current combining altimetry and future spaceborne Doppler data, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 126, e2020JC016560, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JC016560, 2021.

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 

Key Highlights:

• Calibration and Validation: Calibration and validation (cal/val) processes for both NRT and STC datasets have been successfully completed. This ensures that the data meet the highest standards of accuracy and reliability, making them immediately accessible to users for a wide range of applications.
• Data Content: The L2 altimetry datasets are provided in both "standard" and "reduced" forms. The standard datasets include a wealth of information such as Sea Surface Height Anomaly (SSHA), Significant Wave Height (SWH), and Wind Speed. Additionally, they feature 1 Hz and 20 Hz measurements from the Poseidon-4 radar altimeter, orbit altitude, environmental range corrections, instrument corrections, and geophysical models. The reduced datasets focus on the most essential parameters, ensuring efficient data handling and analysis.
• Data Access: L1B and L2 data are distributed by EUMETSAT on EUMETCast, the Data Store, and WIS2.0:
  • Poseidon-4 Altimetry Level 1B Low Resolution data
  • Poseidon-4 Altimetry Level 1B High Resolution data
  • Poseidon-4 Altimetry Level 2 Low Resolution data
  • Poseidon-4 Altimetry Level 2 High Resolution data
• The L1B and L2 datasets are described and also discoverable via the NASA's Earthdata portal.

Further information can be found at the links below:

-NASA's Earthdata: https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/data/alerts-outages/sentinel-6b-altimetry-nrt-stc-datasets-release

-EUMETSAT: https://user.eumetsat.int/news-events/news/release-of-sentinel-6-b-altimetry-data

Please be informed that Jason-3 spacecraft has completed on 2026/06/26 the maneuver of transfer to the new interleaved Long Repeat Orbit, shifted 4km on ground track with respect to previous orbit at the same altitude.
Maneuver was successful and the spacecraft is planned to stay on this new orbit for one year.

The missions has continued during the last week and the products have been correctly produced and distributed. No change expected.
IGDR has been now validated and their distribution will be resumed shortly.

Next orbit maneuver is expected in one year (end of June/beginning of July 2027) to return on Jason-2 LRO to fill the gaps due to safehold mode.

Best regards,

The AVISO Team