CoAuthors

Faisal Hossain (University of Washington, United States); Vardis Tsontos (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, United States)

For more than 28 years, the enduring NASA, CNES, and partners Jason mission series satellites have provided researchers and operational users with an unprecedented time series of ocean and large surface water body measurement data. In addition to the critical science research this information enables (the steady rise of sea level, not the least), the continuous record provides invaluable opportunities for operational, commercial, and environmental applications for societal benefit. With the launch of Jason-CS/Sentinel-6 next month and more planned missions into the next decade, this resource will be available to the international community of researchers and operational users to monitor changes in ocean and surface water bodies, and to improve our understanding of the role of the ocean in climate and weather.
The Altimetry Applications Program, which focuses on the NASA-CNES missions, will engage existing ocean altimetry data users, as well as the community of potential altimetry data users, to provide information about the uses of the observations from these missions and emerging community needs.
Some of the practical applications enabled by altimeter data and information products include:
• International ocean forecasting systems,
• Ship routing and sport sailing,
• Precision marine operations: cable-laying, oil production, shipping
• Naval operations,
• Fisheries assessment and management,
• River, lake, and reservoir monitoring,
• Flood forecasting,
• Marine mammal habitat monitoring,
• Hurricane forecasting and tracking,
• Debris tracking, and
• Coastal applications

This presentation will focus on efforts to identify and highlight applications and opportunities to provide data and information products to existing and new users, and to highlight the value of this resource for societal benefit.