New Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich L2P (Level-2+)/L3 (Level-3) products available

Sea Level Anomalies (m) of Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich from cycle 50 pass 217 to cycle 51 pass 217. Credits Cnes/CLS

Launched in November 2020, the Sentinel-6A Michael Freilich altimeter mission was designed to ensure the continuity of the Jason-3 measurements. The Poseidon-4 altimeter onboard of Sentinel-6A operates in the so-called ‘interleaved mode’. It allows the provision of Low Resolution (LR) mode measurement, as currently available on the Jason-3 mission, and High Resolution (HR) mode ensured by the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instrument, as currently available for the Sentinel-3 missions. This is the first time that the two measurement modes are available on collocated positions allowing a perfect comparison and a better understanding of possible errors affecting one or the other mode. The first year of Sentinel-6A measurement was done in formation flight, where Sentinel-6A and Jason-3 are acquiring data using the same ground track separated by a few seconds. This step allowed the calibration and validation of the Sentinel-6A measurements. 

On March 24th, the CEOS Ocean Surface Topography Virtual Constellation (OST-VC) members declared Sentinel-6MF as the new Reference Altimetry Mission. Sentinel-6MF joins all other altimetry L2P/L3 products, including Jason-3 and Sentinel-3A&B, enlarging the family of high quality products that are relevant for the oceanographic studies.

The L2P/L3 products are along-track and include:

• Sea Level Anomalies
• Significant Wave Height and Wind Speed

DISSEMINATION:

L2P Products: The L2P products (Sea Level Anomalies, Wave Height and Wind Speed) in NRT (Near-Real-Time) and STC (Short Time Critical) are disseminated by EUMETCast and AVISO+.
L3 Products: The L3 products (Sea Level Anomalies, Wave Height and Wind Speed) are disseminated by EUMETCast and the Copernicus Marine Service (https://marine.copernicus.eu/fr)
The details of the EUMETCast and AVISO+ accesses are given below.

INFORMATION:

L2P Sea Level Anomalies products: you will find the details on the product page and in the dedicated handbook
L2P Wave Wind products: you will find the details on the product page and in the dedicated handbook

ACCESS TO DATA:

Access to data via AVISO+:

The L2P products are available on the FTP and the Thredds Data Server.

• If you are already registered to AVISO+, the access is available in MY AVISO+
• If you are not registered, please fill the registration form

And select the products named
“Sea Level Anomalies Along-track Level-2+ (L2P) Sentinel-3&6” and/or “Wave / wind Along-track Level-2+ (L2P) Sentinel-3&6”.
This will give you access to the L2P SLA products of all the available missions. Note that for Sentinel-6A a specific folder is added for “hr” or High Resolution mode (SAR mode) or for “lr” or Low Resolution mode (LRM mode).

Access to data via EUMETCast:

Please find all the information on https://www.eumetsat.int/public-release-new-sentinel-6-l2pl3-products