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Description

This is a near real time dataset that provides a GPS based orbit and Sea Surface Height Anomalies (SSHA) from that orbit. It is similar to the Jason-3 Operation Geophysical Data Record (OGDR) that is distributed at NOAA (http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/sog/jason/), but includes the GPS orbit and SSHA as two additional variables. It has a 5 hour time lag due to the time needed to calculate the GPS orbit and SSHA. The GPS orbits have been shown to be more accurate than the DORIS orbits on a near real time scale and therefore produces a more accurate SSHA.<br>
Forward stream transitioned from processing baseline/version "F" to "G" in January 2025. The change is reflected in the product filename: JA3_GPSOPR_2P<b>f</b>S -> JA3_GPSOPR_2P<b>g</b>S

Product Summary

Platforms
JASON-3
Instruments
AMR ,
GPSP ,
POSEIDON-3
Spatial Extent

N: 66 S: -66 E: 180 W: -180

Geographic Region
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
CARTESIAN
Temporal Extent
2020-10-29
Data Partner
Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA (NASA/JPL/PODAAC)
Concept ID
C2205122298-POCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
21794
Processing Level
2
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Sea Surface Height ,
Significant Wave Height

Citation

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.

Copy Citation

Desai, S. (2016). Jason-3 GPS based orbit and SSHA OGDR [Data set]. NASA Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/J3L2G-OGDRF Date Accessed: 2025-12-13

Documents

USER'S GUIDE

READ-ME

DATA CITATION GUIDELINES

SHOWING 2 OF 2

Variables

Variables are a set of physical properties whose values determine the characteristics or behavior of something. For example, temperature and pressure are variables of the atmosphere. Parameters and variables can be used interchangeably. Variable level attributes provide individual information for each variable.

The Name in this table is the variable name. Fill value indicates missing or undefined data points in a variable. Valid range is the range of values the variable can store. Scale factor is used to increase or decrease the size of an object and can be used to correct for distortion. For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor
/data_01/altitude Named alt in GDR-D standard. Altitude of satellite above the reference ellipsoid. Associated quality flag is orb_state_diode_flag for the OGDR products, orb_state_rest_flag for the IGDR and GDR products m int 2147483647 N/A 0.0001
/data_01/alt_qual Named alt_quality_flag in GDR-D standard. Compilation of all altimeter flags except altimeter echo type : Set to default in the current issue N/A byte 127 N/A 1
/data_01/dac Sum of the high frequency fluctuations correction (named hf_fluctuations_corr in GDR-D standard) and of the low frequency inverted barometer correction(inv_bar_cor). See Jason-3 User Handbook m short 32767 N/A 0.0001
/data_01/depth_or_elevation Named bathymetry in GDR-D standard m int 2147483647 N/A 1
/data_01/geo_qual Named geophysical_quality_flag in GDR-D standard. Check on validity of all geophysical fields : Set to default in the current issue N/A byte 127 N/A 1
/data_01/gps_altitude Near Real Time GPS-derived altitude of satellite above the reference ellipsoid. Field appended to original OGDR product. m int 2147483647 N/A 0.0001
/data_01/ice_flag See Jason-3 User Handbook N/A byte 127 N/A 1
/data_01/internal_tide See Jason-3 User Handbook m short 32767 N/A 0.0001
/data_01/inv_bar_cor Named inv_bar_corr in GDR-D standard. Computed at the altimeter time-tag from the interpolation of 2 meteorological fields that surround the altimeter time-tag. See Jason-3 User Handbook m short 32767 N/A 0.0001
/data_01/ku/gps_ssha sea surface height anomaly derived from ssha-altitude+gps_altitude. Field appended to original OGDR product. m short 32767 N/A 0.001
/data_01/ku/iono_cor_alt_filtered An ionospheric correction must be added (negative value) to the instrument range to correct this range measurement for ionospheric range delays of the radar pulse. See Jason-3 User Handbook m short 32767 N/A 0.0001
/data_01/ku/iono_cor_alt_filtered_mle3 An ionospheric correction must be added (negative value) to the instrument range to correct this range measurement for ionospheric range delays of the radar pulse. See Jason-3 User Handbook m short 32767 N/A 0.0001
/data_01/ku/range_ocean Named range_ku in GDR-D standard. All instrumental corrections included, i.e. distance antenna-COG (/data_01/range_cor_cog), USO drift correction (/data_01/range_cor_uso), internal path correction (range_cor_internal_path), Doppler correction (range_cor_doppler), modeled instrumental errors correction (range_cor_ocean_model_instr) and system bias m int 2147483647 N/A 0.0001
/data_01/ku/range_ocean_mle3 Named range_ku_mle3 in GDR-D standard. All instrumental corrections included, i.e. distance antenna-COG (/data_01/range_cor_cog), USO drift correction (/data_01/range_cor_uso), internal path correction (range_cor_internal_path), Doppler correction (range_cor_doppler), modeled instrumental errors correction (range_cor_ocean_mle3_model_instr) and system bias m int 2147483647 N/A 0.0001
/data_01/ku/sea_state_bias Named sea_state_bias_ku in GDR-D standard. A sea state bias correction must be added (negative value) to the instrument range to correct this range measurement for sea state delays of the radar pulse. This element should not be used over land. See Jason-3 User Handbook m short 32767 N/A 0.0001
/data_01/ku/sea_state_bias_mle3 Named sea_state_bias_ku_mle3 in GDR-D standard. A sea state bias correction must be added (negative value) to the instrument range to correct this range measurement for sea state delays of the radar pulse. This element should not be used over land. See Jason-3 User Handbook m short 32767 N/A 0.0001
/data_01/ku/sig0_ocean Named sig0_ku in GDR-D standard. All instrumental corrections included, excepted the system bias, i.e. AGC instrumental errors correction, internal calibration correction (sig0_cor_calibration), modeled instrumental errors correction (sig0_cor_ocean_model_instr) and atmospheric attenuation (sig0_cor_atm) dB short 32767 N/A 0.01
/data_01/ku/sig0_ocean_mle3 Named sig0_ku_mle3 in GDR-D standard. All instrumental corrections included, excepted the system bias, i.e. AGC instrumental errors correction, internal calibration correction (sig0_cor_calibration), modeled instrumental errors correction (sig0_cor_ocean_mle3_model_instr) and atmospheric attenuation (sig0_cor_atm) dB short 32767 N/A 0.01
/data_01/ku/ssha = altitude of satellite (/data_01/altitude) - Ku band corrected altimeter range (range_ocean) - filtered altimeter ionospheric correction on Ku band (iono_cor_alt_filtered) - model dry tropospheric correction (/data_01/model_dry_tropo_cor_zero_altitude) - radiometer wet tropospheric correction (/data_01/rad_wet_tropo_cor) - sea state bias correction in Ku band (sea_state_bias) - solid earth tide height (/data_01/solid_earth_tide) - geocentric ocean tide height from FES solution (/data_01/ocean_tide_fes) - non-equilibrium long-period ocean tide height (/data_01/ocean_tide_non_eq) - geocentric pole tide height (/data_01/pole_tide) - internal tide (/data_01/internal_tide) - dynamic atmospheric correction (/data_01/dac) - mean sea surface from CNES/CLS solution (/data_01/mean_sea_surface_cnescls). Set to default if the waveform classification (wvf_main_class) is not set to 1 = brown ocean, 12 = shifted brown, 13 = brown noise leading edge or 15 = linear positive_slope, the radiometer surface type (/data_01/rad_surface_type_flag) set to 2 = land m short 32767 N/A 0.001
/data_01/ku/ssha_mle3 = altitude of satellite (/data_01/altitude) - Ku band corrected altimeter range (range_ocean_mle3) - filtered altimeter ionospheric correction on Ku band (iono_cor_alt_filtered_mle3) - model dry tropospheric correction (/data_01/model_dry_tropo_cor_zero_altitude) - radiometer wet tropospheric correction (/data_01/rad_wet_tropo_cor) - sea state bias correction in Ku band (sea_state_bias_mle3) - solid earth tide height (/data_01/solid_earth_tide) - geocentric ocean tide height from FES solution (/data_01/ocean_tide_fes) - non-equilibrium long-period ocean tide height (/data_01/ocean_tide_non_eq) - geocentric pole tide height (/data_01/pole_tide) - internal tide (/data_01/internal_tide) - dynamic atmospheric correction (/data_01/dac) - mean sea surface from CNES/CLS solution (/data_01/mean_sea_surface_cnescls). Set to default if the waveform classification (wvf_main_class) is not set to 1 = brown ocean, 12 = shifted brown, 13 = brown noise leading edge or 15 = linear positive_slope, the radiometer surface type (/data_01/rad_surface_type_flag) set to 2 = land m short 32767 N/A 0.001
/data_01/ku/swh_ocean Named swh_ku in GDR-D standard. All instrumental corrections included, i.e. modeled instrumental errors correction (swh_cor_ocean_model_instr) and system bias m short 32767 N/A 0.001
/data_01/ku/swh_ocean_mle3 Named swh_ku_mle3 in GDR-D standard. All instrumental corrections included, i.e. modeled instrumental errors correction (swh_cor_ocean_mle3_model_instr) and system bias m short 32767 N/A 0.001
/data_01/ku/wvf_main_class Waveform classification : main class selected by classification neural network trained on shape features of the waveforms N/A byte 127 N/A 1
/data_01/latitude Named lat in GDR-D standard. Positive latitude is North latitude, negative latitude is South latitude. See Jason-3 User Handbook. Associated quality flag is orb_state_diode_flag for the OGDR products, orb_state_rest_flag for the IGDR and GDR products degrees_north int 2147483647 N/A 1.0E-6
/data_01/longitude Named lon in GDR-D standard. East longitude relative to Greenwich meridian. See Jason-3 User Handbook. Associated quality flag is orb_state_diode_flag for the OGDR products, orb_state_rest_flag for the IGDR and GDR products degrees_east int 2147483647 N/A 1.0E-6
/data_01/mean_dynamic_topography Named mean_topography in GDR-D standard. See Jason-3 User Handbook m int 2147483647 N/A 0.0001
/data_01/mean_sea_surface_cnescls Named mean_sea_surface in GDR-D standard. See Jason-3 User Handbook m int 2147483647 N/A 0.0001
/data_01/meteo_map_availability_flag Named ecmwf_meteo_map_avail in GDR-D standard. Possible values are: 0 meaning ’2 maps, nominal’ (six hours apart), 1 meaning ’2 maps, degraded’ (more than six hours apart), 2 meaning ’1 map, closest map used’, 3 meaning ’no valid map’ N/A byte 127 N/A 1
/data_01/model_dry_tropo_cor_zero_altitude Named model_dry_tropo_corr in GDR-D standard. Computed at the altimeter time-tag from the interpolation of 2 meteorological fields that surround the altimeter time-tag. A dry tropospheric correction must be added (negative value) to the instrument range to correct this range measurement for dry tropospheric range delays of the radar pulse. See Jason-3 User Handbook m short 32767 N/A 0.0001
/data_01/ocean_tide_fes Named ocean_tide_sol2 in GDR-D standard. Includes the equilibrium long-period ocean tide height and the short-period part of the corresponding loading tide. The permanent tide (zero frequency) is not included in this parameter because it is included in the geoid and mean sea surface (geoid, mean_sea_surface_cnescls). See Jason-3 User Handbook m int 2147483647 N/A 0.0001
/data_01/pole_tide See Jason-3 User Handbook m short 32767 N/A 0.0001
/data_01/rad_cloud_liquid_water Named rad_liquid_water in GDR-D standard. Should not be used over land kg/m^2 short 32767 N/A 0.01
/data_01/rad_qual Named rad_quality_flag in GDR-D standard. Compilation of all radiometer flags except radiometer surface type : Set to default in the current issue N/A byte 127 N/A 1
/data_01/rad_rain_flag See Jason-3 User Handbook. The radiometer rain flag indicates where the radiometer wet troposphere path delay (rad_wet_tropo_cor) is invalid due to rain contamination N/A byte 127 N/A 1
/data_01/rad_sea_ice_flag See Jason-3 User Handbook. The radiometer sea ice flag indicates where the radiometer wet troposphere path delay (rad_wet_tropo_cor) is invalid due to sea ice contamination N/A byte 127 N/A 1
/data_01/rad_surface_type_flag Named rad_surf_type in GDR-D standard. The radiometer surface type flag is applicable to the radiometer wet troposphere path delays provided by rad_wet_tropo_cor. A value of 0 indicates that open ocean processing is used to compute the path delay, 1 indicates coastal processing is used, and 2 indicates the path delay is invalid due to land N/A byte 127 N/A 1
/data_01/rad_water_vapor Should not be used over land kg/m^2 short 32767 N/A 0.1
/data_01/rad_wet_tropo_cor Named rad_wet_tropo_corr in GDR-D standard. A wet tropospheric correction must be added (negative value) to the instrument range to correct this range measurement for wet tropospheric range delays of the radar pulse m short 32767 N/A 0.0001
/data_01/rain_flag See Jason-3 User Handbook N/A byte 127 N/A 1
/data_01/solid_earth_tide Calculated using Cartwright and Tayler tables and consisting of the second and third degree constituents. The permanent tide (zero frequency) is not included. See Jason-3 User Handbook m short 32767 N/A 0.0001
/data_01/surface_classification_flag Computed from a mask built with MODIS and GlobCover data N/A byte 127 N/A 1
/data_01/time Time of measurement in seconds in the UTC time scale since 1 Jan 2000 00:00:00 UTC. [tai_utc_difference] is the difference between TAI and UTC reference time (seconds) for the first measurement of the data set. If a leap second occurs within the data set, the attribute [leap_second] is set to the UTC time at which the leap second occurs seconds since 2000-01-01 00:00:00.0 double N/A N/A 1
/data_01/time_tai Time of measurement in seconds in the TAI time scale since 1 Jan 2000 00:00:00 TAI. This time scale contains no leap seconds. The difference (in seconds) with time in UTC is given by the attribute [time:tai_utc_difference] seconds since 2000-01-01 00:00:00.0 double 1.844674407371E+19 N/A 1
/data_01/wind_speed_alt Should not be used over land. See Jason-3 User Handbook. A calibration bias of +0.06 dB has been added to the Ku band backscatter coefficient (/data_01/ku/sig0_ocean) before computing the wind speed m/s short 32767 N/A 0.01
/data_01/wind_speed_alt_mle3 Should not be used over land. See Jason-3 User Handbook. A calibration bias of +0.109 dB has been added to the Ku band backscatter coefficient (/data_01/ku/sig0_ocean_mle3) before computing the wind speed m/s short 32767 N/A 0.01
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