Oceanography and the Eye in the Sky: How Satellites Are Redefining Our Oceans
Since 1993, TOPEX/Poseidon and the Jason series have produced a continuous global mean sea level record, showing a rise of about 3.1–3.3 millimeters per year with acceleration to over 4 millimeters per year in the last decade and by 2023 the global mean sea level was over 100 millimeters higher than in 1993. Seasat (1978) carried a radar altimeter and, during its 105-day mission, provided ocean data that followed GEOS-3’s 1975 testing of radar altimetry. TOPEX/Poseidon, launched in 1992, carried two altimeters (NASA Ku/C-band and CNES Poseidon) and achieved sea-surface height accuracy of about 2–3 centimeters on a 10-day repeat