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 Sort descending	Version	Platform	Instrument	Temporal Extent	Spatial Extent	Spatial Resolution	Data Format
Sentinel-6B/Jason-CS L2 P4 Altimeter High Resolution (HR) STC Ocean Surface Topography	G	Sentinel-6B	Poseidon-4 Radar Altimeter, AMR-C, DORIS, GNSS RECEIVER	2025-11-17	N: 66.15 S: -66.15 E: 180 W: -180		netCDF-4
Sentinel-6B/Jason-CS L2 P4 Altimeter High Resolution (HR) STC Reduced Ocean Surface Topography	G	Sentinel-6B	Poseidon-4 Radar Altimeter, AMR-C, DORIS, GNSS RECEIVER	2025-11-17	N: 66.15 S: -66.15 E: 180 W: -180		netCDF-4
Sentinel-6B/Jason-CS L2 P4 Altimeter Low Resolution (LR) NRT Ocean Surface Topography	G	Sentinel-6B	Poseidon-4 Radar Altimeter, DORIS, GNSS RECEIVER, AMR	2020-12-07 to Present	N: 66.15 S: -66.15 E: 180 W: -180		netCDF-4
Sentinel-6B/Jason-CS L2 P4 Altimeter Low Resolution (LR) NRT Reduced Ocean Surface Topography	G	Sentinel-6B	Poseidon-4 Radar Altimeter, AMR-C, DORIS, GNSS RECEIVER	2025-11-17	N: 66.15 S: -66.15 E: 180 W: -180		netCDF-4
Sentinel-6B/Jason-CS L2 P4 Altimeter Low Resolution (LR) STC Ocean Surface Topography	G	Sentinel-6B	Poseidon-4 Radar Altimeter, AMR-C, DORIS, GNSS RECEIVER	2025-11-17	N: 66.15 S: -66.15 E: 180 W: -180		netCDF-4
Sentinel-6B/Jason-CS L2 P4 Altimeter Low Resolution (LR) STC Reduced Ocean Surface Topography	G	Sentinel-6B	Poseidon-4 Radar Altimeter, AMR-C, DORIS, GNSS RECEIVER	2025-11-17	N: 66.15 S: -66.15 E: 180 W: -180		netCDF-4
SHIFT: Ramses Trios Radiometer Above Water Measurements, Santa Barbara Sea, CA	1	FIELD SURVEYS	RADIOMETERS	2022-04-05 to 2022-05-29	N: 34.414 S: 34.4064 E: -119.681 W: -119.691		CSV
Ship-Aircraft Bio-Optical Research (SABOR) collaborative campaign	0	BUOYS, MOORINGS, Water-based Platforms, AUVS, ROVS, Ships		2014-07-18 to Present	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180
Ships of Opportunity for PACE (SO-PACE): Validation of water-leaving reflectances, IOPs, and plankton community metrics	0	BUOYS, MOORINGS, Water-based Platforms, AUVS, ROVS, Ships		2023-12-31 to Present	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180
Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) program to study the Chesapeake Bay in 2003	0	BUOYS, MOORINGS, Water-based Platforms, AUVS, ROVS, Ships		2003-11-07 to Present	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180
SMMR/Nimbus-7 Color Images V001 (SMMRN7IM)	001	Nimbus-7	SMMR	1978-10-30 to 1983-11-02	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	25 Kilometers x 25 Kilometers
S-MODE DopplerScatt Level 2 Ocean Winds and Currents Version 1	1	B-200	DOPPLER RADAR	2021-10-20 to 2021-11-05	N: 38.2 S: 36.3 E: -122.1 W: -126.2		netCDF-4
S-MODE DopplerScatt Level 2 Ocean Winds and Currents Version 2	2	B-200	DOPPLER RADAR	2021-10-20 to 2023-04-30	N: 38.4 S: 36 E: -122 W: -126.5		netCDF-4
S-MODE L2 Position Data from Surface Drifters Version 1	1	BUOYS	DRIFTING BUOYS	2021-10-21 to 2023-12-31	N: 38.1 S: 36.3 E: -122.9 W: -125.4		netCDF-4
S-MODE L2 Shipboard Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler Measurements Version 1	1	Ships	ADCP	2021-10-19 to 2023-05-06	N: 38.1 S: 36.3 E: -122.9 W: -125.4		netCDF-4
S-MODE L2 Shipboard Bottle Data Version 1	1	Ships	WATER BOTTLES, SALINOMETERS	2021-10-22 to 2023-05-02	N: 38.1 S: 36.3 E: -122.9 W: -125.4		netCDF-4
S-MODE L2 Shipboard Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth Measurements Version 1	1	Ships	CTD	2021-08-01 to 2023-05-05	N: 38.1 S: 36.3 E: -122.9 W: -125.4		netCDF-4
S-MODE L2 Shipboard Meteorological Data from Rawinsondes Version 1	1	Ships	RAWINSONDES, RADIOSONDES	2021-10-21 to 2023-05-31	N: 38.1 S: 36.3 E: -122.9 W: -125.4		netCDF-4
S-MODE L2 Shipboard SUNA nitrate data Version 1	1	Ships	CTD	2021-10-22 to 2021-10-23	N: 38.1 S: 36.3 E: -122.9 W: -125.4		netCDF-4
S-MODE L2 Shipboard Thermosalinograph, Meteorology, and Bio-optics Measurements Version 1	1	Ships	THERMOSALINOGRAPHS, FLUOROMETERS	2021-08-01 to 2023-05-04	N: 38.1 S: 36.3 E: -122.9 W: -125.4		netCDF-4
S-MODE L2 Temperature and Salinity from Saildrones Version 1	1	Saildrone	ADCP	2021-09-01 to 2022-10-31	N: 38.1 S: 36.3 E: -122.9 W: -125.4		netCDF-4
SMODE L2 WAVEGLIDERS TEMP SALINITY V1	1	Wave Glider	CTD, ADCP, MMS, CURRENT METERS	2021-10-28 to 2023-05-14	N: 38.2 S: 36.3 E: -122.1 W: -126.2		netCDF-4
SMODE L3 WAVEGLIDERS TEMP SALINITY V1	1	Wave Glider	CTD, ADCP, MMS, CURRENT METERS	2022-09-20 to 2023-05-13	N: 38.2 S: 36.3 E: -122.1 W: -126.2		netCDF-4
SMODE L4 ROMS Model Ancillary Files Version 1	1	MODELS		2013-04-01 to 2013-05-31	N: 40 S: 34 E: -120 W: -130
SMODE L4 ROMS Model Output Version 1	1	MODELS		2013-04-01 to 2013-05-01	N: 40 S: 34 E: -121 W: -127.5

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.

Potential of SWOT for Sea Ice Monitoring Unveiled

Researchers explore using SWOT data to derive two-dimensional estimates of sea ice thickness.

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.

global sea surface height data collected by SWOT

Facing the Challenges of Using High-Resolution Sea Surface Height Observations From SWOT

SWOT presents opportunities and challenges in characterizing sea surface height anomalies.

Ocean Data Tools

View All Data Tools

Tool Sort descending	Description	Services
AppEEARS	The Application for Extracting and Exploring Analysis Ready Samples (AppEEARS) offers 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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