TOPEX/POSEIDON Geophysical Data Record Version F

The TOPEX/POSEIDON Geophysical Data Record (GDR) contains global coverage altimeter data. The objective of the TOPEX/POSEIDON mission, launched in August 1992, is to determine ocean topography with a sea surface height measurement precision of 3 cm and a sealevel measurement accuracy of 13 cm. The dataset contains measurements from two altimeters, a NASA dual frequency (Ku and C band) instrument similar to the Geosat altimeter, and a French space agency (CNES) instrument which is a proof-of-concept solid-state altimeter (Ku band). It also contains Sea Surface Height (SSH), significant wave height, ionospheric correction, tides and other geophysical corrections. It is emphasized that this product is considered research data because of the form and content of the data. The data consist entirely of files comprising headers and data records which contain over a hundred parameters for each second. It is swath data and there are no images. Analysis software is the responsibility of the user. Calculation of sea surface height anomalies from the altimeter range and environmental corrections is the responsibility of the user. The data are arranged in 10 day cycles that are separated into 254 passes, each about 56 minutes.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer Earthdata Forum
Last Updated September 15, 2026, 03:23 (UTC)
Created April 1, 2025, 19:32 (UTC)
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id 8077eb8a-fea3-4bcd-b9b9-2c2ff30af1c6
harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
identifier 10.5067/TPXPS-GDRF1
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified 2026-09-07T22:16:02Z
programCode {026:000}
publisher NASA/JPL/PODAAC
resource-type Dataset
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source_hash 2a8a6fdef37d5f0b3c28e562a1d4268a9149c58c8eacaa6aad324ed4ffa3061d
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial ["GEODETIC", [{"NorthBoundingCoordinate": 66.0, "WestBoundingCoordinate": -180.0, "EastBoundingCoordinate": 180.0, "SouthBoundingCoordinate": -66.0}]]
temporal 1992-10-13/2005-10-04
theme {"Earth Science"}