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Ocean Data Access and Tools

NASA data span the geophysical parameters that characterize the global ocean and the physical processes operating within its depths and at its surface. Our datasets and tools help researchers translate these interconnected data points into actionable knowledge.

Visit Ocean Learning Resources to better understand the metadata for each data collection.

Ocean Datasets

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Dataset Version Platform Instrument Temporal Extent Spatial Extent Spatial Resolution Data Format
ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3B Monthly Gridded Dynamic Ocean Topography V001 001 ICESat-2 ATLAS 2018-10-13 to 2021-06-01

N: 88 S: -88 E: 180 W: -180

25 Kilometers x 25 Kilometers HDF5
ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3B Monthly Gridded Dynamic Ocean Topography V002 002 ICESat-2 ATLAS 2018-10-13 to 2022-06-01

N: 88 S: -88 E: 180 W: -180

25 Kilometers x 25 Kilometers HDF5
ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3B Monthly Gridded Dynamic Ocean Topography V004 004 ICESat-2 ATLAS 2018-10-13 to Present

N: 88 S: -88 E: 180 W: -180

25 Kilometers x 25 Kilometers HDF5
ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3B Monthly Gridded Dynamic Ocean Topography V004 004 ICESat-2 ATLAS 2018-10-13 to Present

N: 88 S: -88 E: 180 W: -180

25 Kilometers x 25 Kilometers HDF5
ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3B Monthly Gridded Dynamic Ocean Topography V004 004 ICESat-2 ATLAS 2018-10-13 to Present

N: 88 S: -88 E: 180 W: -180

25 Kilometers x 25 Kilometers HDF5
Autonomous Ocean Sampling Networks (AOSN) second deployment 0 BUOYS, MOORINGS, Water-based Platforms, AUVS, ROVS, Ships 2003-08-02 to Present

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Autonomous Radiometric Validation of PACE’s OCI in the Gulf of Mexico 0 BUOYS, MOORINGS, Water-based Platforms, AUVS, ROVS, Ships 2023-12-31 to Present

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

AVHRR Global Mapped Eulerian and Lagrangian Oceanography and Ecology Variables Data, version 1 1 NOAA POES, METOP-A AVHRR 2000-01-01 to 2009-12-31

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

netCDF-4
AVISO Level 4 Absolute Dynamic Topography for Climate Model Comparison 1 JASON-1, TOPEX/POSEIDON, ENVISAT, GRACE, OSTM/JASON-2, ERS-1, ERS-2 JASON-1 Microwave Radiometer, POSEIDON-2, TMR, ALT (TOPEX), SSALT, RA-2, GRACE-FO ACC, GRACE SCA, GRACE-FO KBR, AMR, POSEIDON-3, ERS-1 ALTIMETER, ERS-2 Altimeter 1992-10-01 to 2010-12-31

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

1 Decimal Degrees x 1 Decimal Degrees netCDF-4
AVISO Level 4 Absolute Dynamic Topography for Climate Model Comparison Number of Observations 1 JASON-1, TOPEX/POSEIDON, ENVISAT, GRACE, OSTM/JASON-2, ERS-1, ERS-2 JASON-1 Microwave Radiometer, POSEIDON-2, ALT (TOPEX), TMR, SSALT, RA-2, GRACE-FO ACC, GRACE SCA, GRACE-FO KBR, AMR, POSEIDON-3, ERS-1 ALTIMETER, ERS-2 Altimeter 1992-10-01 to 2010-12-30

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

1 Decimal Degrees x 1 Decimal Degrees NETCDF
AVISO Level 4 Absolute Dynamic Topography for Climate Model Comparison Standard Error 1 JASON-1, TOPEX/POSEIDON, ENVISAT, GRACE, OSTM/JASON-2, ERS-1, ERS-2 JASON-1 Microwave Radiometer, POSEIDON-2, ALT (TOPEX), TMR, SSALT, RA-2, GRACE-FO ACC, GRACE SCA, GRACE-FO KBR, AMR, POSEIDON-3, ERS-1 ALTIMETER, ERS-2 Altimeter 1992-10-01 to 2010-12-31

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

1 Decimal Degrees x 1 Decimal Degrees NETCDF
Bass Strait Pre-SWOT Level-4 Hourly MITgcm LLC4320 Native Grid 2km Oceanographic Dataset Version 1.0 1.0 MITgcm Computer 2011-09-13 to 2012-11-15

N: -38.00927 S: -41.99857 E: 147.8438 W: 143.8646

2 Kilometers x 2 Kilometers netCDF-4
Belgium Aqualooks Experiment 2021 0 BUOYS, MOORINGS, Water-based Platforms, AUVS, ROVS, Ships 2021-09-06 to Present

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Benthic ecology measurements near Panama City and Florida Keys 0 BUOYS, MOORINGS, Water-based Platforms, AUVS, ROVS, Ships 2005-06-27 to Present

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Bering Ecosystem STudy (BEST) project 0 BUOYS, MOORINGS, Water-based Platforms, AUVS, ROVS, Ships 2008-07-04 to Present

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Bering Sea measurements in 1995 0 BUOYS, MOORINGS, Water-based Platforms, AUVS, ROVS, Ships 1996-07-21 to Present

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Bering Sea measurements in 1996 0 BUOYS, MOORINGS, Water-based Platforms, AUVS, ROVS, Ships 1995-07-19 to Present

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Bermuda Bio-Optics Project (BBOP) 0 BUOYS, MOORINGS, Water-based Platforms, AUVS, ROVS, Ships 1988-10-20 to Present

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Bermuda Testbed Mooring 0 BUOYS, MOORINGS, Water-based Platforms, AUVS, ROVS, Ships 1999-04-01 to Present

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Biodiversity Survey of the Cape - Mapping Dissolved Organic Carbon sources and cycling in aquatic biodiversity hotspots across South Africa's Greater Cape Floristic Region 0 BUOYS, MOORINGS, Water-based Platforms, AUVS, ROVS, Ships 2023-10-12 to 2023-11-14

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Biogeochemistry and Optics South Pacific Experiment 0 BUOYS, MOORINGS, Water-based Platforms, AUVS, ROVS, Ships 2004-10-26 to Present

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Biological Global Ocean Ship-based Hydrographic Investigations Program (Bio-GO-SHIP) 0 BUOYS, MOORINGS, Water-based Platforms, AUVS, ROVS, Ships 2016-01-01 to Present

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

BiOMAP 0 BUOYS, MOORINGS, Water-based Platforms, AUVS, ROVS, Ships 2022-01-01 to Present

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Bio-optical chlorophyll-a polarization measurements 0 BUOYS, MOORINGS, Water-based Platforms, AUVS, ROVS, Ships 2013-08-12 to Present

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Bio-optical properties of the different water masses in the Gulf of St. Lawrence 0 BUOYS, MOORINGS, Water-based Platforms, AUVS, ROVS, Ships 1990-06-28 to Present

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

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Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) Platform

SWOT provides detailed surface topography and monitors water body changes over time. The platform enables high-resolution ocean monitoring at 15-150 km spatial scales, tracking ocean currents, coastal dynamics, storm surges, and regional sea level changes. On land, SWOT measures water storage changes in lakes, reservoirs, rivers, and wetlands, supporting river discharge estimates for water resource assessment.

Discover more from SWOT
Earthdata grapic identifier on patterned background

SWOT Swath Visualizer

The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) Swath Visualizer provides a visualization of two instruments’ coverage of Earth's surface: the Ka-band Radar Interferometer and altimeter.

Ocean Data Tools

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Tool Description Services
AppEEARS The The Application for Extracting and Exploring Analysis Ready Samples (AppEEARS) offers users a simple and efficient way to perform data access and transformation processes. Search and Discovery, Subsetting, Customization, Downloading, Visualization
CASEI The Catalog of Archived Suborbital Earth Science Investigations (CASEI) is a comprehensive inventory of contextual information for NASA's Earth Science airborne and field campaigns. Search and Discovery, Cataloging
CyAN File Search The CyAN File Search tool allows users to choose an area over the continental United States and Alaska to retrieve cyanobacteria datasets archived by the Cyanobacteria Assessment Network (CyAN) project. Analysis, Search and Discovery, Visualization
CyFi Explorer CyFi Explorer enables users to view corresponding Sentinel-2 satellite imagery for each cyanobacteria estimate, and estimate cyanobacteria density. Analysis, Search and Discovery, Visualization
Giovanni Giovanni is a web application for accessing, visualizing, and analyzing Earth science remote sensing data without downloading the data. Search and Discovery, Analysis, Access, Visualization, Downloading, Subsetting
Hydrocron Hydrocron is an API that repackages hydrology datasets from SWOT into formats that make time-series analysis easier. Subsetting, Visualization
Ocean Color Level 3 and 4 Browser The Ocean Color Level 3 and 4 Browser allows users to view, download, or order global composites at various spatial and temporal scales (level 3) or get results from analyses of lower-level data (level 4). Analysis, Search and Discovery, Visualization
Panoply Panoply is a cross-platform application that plots geo-referenced and other arrays from netCDF, HDF, GRIB, and other datasets. Visualization, Customization, Reformatting, Subsetting, Comparison
SeaBASS SeaBASS is public archive of ocean and atmosphere data captured in situ. The archive is maintained by NASA's Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG). Downloading
SeaDAS Sea, earth, atmosphere Data Analysis System (SeaDAS) is a comprehensive image analysis package for the processing, display, analysis, and quality control of ocean color data. Analysis, Visualization, Processing
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