Source/Sensor:

1. NASA TOPEX Dual Frequency Altimeter, C Band, 5.3 GHz and Ku Band, 13.6 GHz
2. CNES POSEIDON Solid State Altimeter, Ku_Band, 13.65 GHz

Coverage: September 23, 1992 to Aug 11, 2002, global oceans, -66 deg to +66 deg latitude

The list under General Information applies to all Altimeter Ocean Pathfinder data sets which PO.DAAC is providing. For example, when referencing "Description of Sea Surface Height Data", you will find links to TOPEX/POSEIDON, ERS1, ERS2, and GFO.

The Altimeter Ocean Pathfinder TOPEX/POSEIDON Version 9.2 data set is derived from the TOPEX/POSEIDON Geophysical Data Record (GDR) files and contains global coverage data. The data contain all cycles up to cycle 364, which is the last complete cycle before the tandem maneuver. The maneuver started on pass 111 of cycle 365 and ended on pass 171 of cycle 367. The dates of the maneuver were Aug 15, 2002 through Sep 16, 2002. After the maneuver, starting with cycle 368, the mission is known as the "tandem" mission. The Jason spacecraft, which assumed the original TOPEX/POSEIDON orbit, reaches the equator about 1 minute, 12 seconds before TOPEX/POSEIDON.

For a more comprehensive description of the TOPEX/POSEIDON mission refer to Ocean Surface Topography From Space.

The Production History provides a chronology of the current and previous versions of this product. The Data Editing gives criteria used in deriving the sea surface height.

Data Set Volume: The data on the PO.DAAC ftp site are gzipped and the volume is approximately 593 MBytes. Unzipped volume is approximately 1.33 GBytes.

Anonymous FTP Site: podaac.jpl.nasa.gov

Directory: ftp://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/sea_surface_height/altimeter_ocean_pathfinder/
topex_poseidon_v92

Smallest Order: One file containing cycles 1-364

Standard Product: Gzipped files on ftp. See README.

Related Products: PO.DAAC provides related Sea Surface Height Anomaly products at its Web Site: Ocean Surface Topography Summary.

Formats: Unix byte order, binary data. See Data Organization.