Jason-2 Ground Segment

Jason-2's ground segment is a distributed system between Nasa, Cnes, Eumetsat and Noaa. On the terms and conditions specified with the quadripartite agreement for the Jason-2 project :

  • raw data of the Poseidon3 altimeter, Doris and the radiometer are processed by the Noaa and Eumetsat centers to product near-real time altimetry data (OGDR);
  • raw data of the Poseidon-3 altimeter and the radiometer are only processed by the mission center at Cnes to product delayed time altimetry data (IGDR; S-IGDR, GDR and S-GDR);
  • the production of preliminary and precise orbits of the satellite is provided by the Cnes from data of Doris system, and for the precise orbite determination, data are supplemented by GPS and laser systems;
  • all Jason-2 products are permanently archived and distributed by Cnes and Noaa. Thus, all scientific telemetry, delayed time products, near-real time products and all Jason-2 auxiliary data are archived and distributed by the mission center at Cnes that these data come from Noaa, Eumetsat or the Cnes;
  • value-added products generated by Cnes are archived and distributed in stages by the Cnes.

The data processing is integrated to the Salp with the Ssalto ground segment, which already operates Topex/Poseidon, Jason-1 and Envisat altimetry missions.