New network of virtual altimetry stations for measuring sea level along the world coastlines

Until recently, classical radar altimetry could not provide reliable sea level data within 10 km to the coast. However dedicated reprocessing of radar waveform together with geophysical corrections adapted for the coastal regions now allows to fill this gap at a large number of coastal sites. In the context of the Climate Change Initiative Sea Level project of the European Space Agency, we have recently performed a complete reprocessing of high resolution (20 Hz, i.e., 350m) along-track altimetry data of the Jason-1, Jason-2 and Jason-3 missions over January 2002 to June 2021 along the coastal zones of Northeast Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, whole African continent, North Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia, Australia and North and South America. This reprocessing has provided valid sea level data in the 0-20 km band from the coast. More than 1000 altimetry-based virtual coastal stations have been selected and sea level anomalies time series together with associated coastal sea level trends have been computed over the study time span. In the coastal regions devoid from tide gauges (e.g., African coastlines), these virtual stations offer a unique tool for estimating sea level change close to the coast (typically up to 3 km to the coast but in many instances up to 1 km or even closer). Results show that at most of the virtual stations, the rate of sea level rise at the coast is similar to the rate offshore (15 km away from the coast). However, at some stations, the sea level rate in the last 3-4 km to the coast is either faster or slower than offshore.

Date (Publication): 2024-12

Date (Revision): 2025-06-06

Other citation details: Cazenave Anny, Gouzenes Yvan, Leclercq Lancelot, Birol Florence, Legér Fabien, Passaro Marcello, Calafat Francisco M, Shaw Andrew, Niño Fernando, Legeais Jean François, Oelsmann Julius, Benveniste Jérôme, Connors Sarah (2024). New network of virtual altimetry stations for measuring sea level along the world coastlines. SEANOE. https://doi.org/10.17882/74354

In addition to properly cite this dataset, it would be appreciated that the following work(s) be cited too, when using this dataset in a publication :

Cazenave Anny, Gouzenes Yvan, Birol Florence, Leger Fabien, Passaro Marcello, Calafat Francisco M., Shaw Andrew, Nino Fernando, Legeais Jean François, Oelsmann Julius, Restano Marco, Benveniste Jérôme (2022). Sea level along the world’s coastlines can be measured by a network of virtual altimetry stations. Communications Earth & Environment, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00448-z

Benveniste Jérôme, Birol Florence, Calafat Francisco, Cazenave Anny, Dieng Habib, Gouzenes Yvan, Legeais Jean François, Léger Fabien, Niño Fernando, Passaro Marcello, Schwatke Christian, Shaw Andrew (2020). Coastal sea level anomalies and associated trends from Jason satellite altimetry over 2002–2018. Scientific Data, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-00694-w

Credit: The authors gratefully acknowledge funding for this work; The European Space Agency supported the two phases of the Climate Change Initiative (CCI) for Sea Level and the CCI+ phase for Coastal Sea Level, which has provided the majority of the support leading to the outcomes herein described

Author

LEGOS, Toulouse, France - Cazenave Anny

Author

LEGOS, Toulouse, France - Gouzenes Yvan

Author

LEGOS, Toulouse, France - Leclercq Lancelot

Author

LEGOS, Toulouse, France - Birol Florence

Author

LEGOS, Toulouse, France - Legér Fabien

Author

Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany - Passaro Marcello

Author

NOCS, Southampton, UK - Calafat Francisco M

Author

SKYMAT Ltd., Southampton, UK - Shaw Andrew

Author

LEGOS, Toulouse, France - Niño Fernando

Author

CLS, Ramonville-Saint-Agne, France - Legeais Jean François

Author

Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany - Oelsmann Julius

Author

European Space Agency (ESA) - Benveniste Jérôme

Author

European Space Agency (ESA) - Connors Sarah

Publisher

SEANOE

Theme

Satellite altimetry
coastal sea level
coastal sea level trends
Physical oceanography

ODATIS aggregation parameters and Essential Variable names

Sea surface height

SeaDataNet Parameter Disciplines

Physical oceanography

Type de jeux de donnée ODATIS

/Observational data/in-situ

Use limitation: CC-BY (Creative Commons - Attribution)

Use constraints: Other restrictions

Date (Publication): 2025

Publisher

Copernicus GmbH

Author

Peng Fukai

Author

Deng Xiaoli

Author

Shen Yunzhong

Author

Cheng Xiao

Unique resource identifier: 10.5194/essd-17-1441-2025

Association Type: Cross reference

Initiative Type: Study

Date (Publication): 2024

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Author

Fu Yingchun

Author

Zhu Zhe

Author

Liu Liangyun

Author

Zhan Wenfeng

Author

He Tao

Author

Shen Huangfeng

Author

Zhao Jun

Author

Liu Yongxue

Author

Zhang Hongsheng

Author

Liu Zihan

Author

Xue Yufei

Author

Ao Zurui

Unique resource identifier: 10.34133/remotesensing.0285

Association Type: Cross reference

Initiative Type: Study

Date (Publication): 2024

Publisher

Elsevier BV

Author

Leclercq Lancelot

Author

Cazenave Anny

Author

Leger Fabien

Author

Birol Florence

Author

Nino Fernando

Author

Tolu Lena

Author

Legeais Jean-François

Unique resource identifier: 10.1016/j.asr.2024.11.069

Association Type: Cross reference

Initiative Type: Study

Date (Publication): 2024

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Author

Li Guandong

Author

Törnqvist Torbjörn E.

Author

Dangendorf Sönke

Unique resource identifier: 10.1038/s41467-024-45487-6

Association Type: Cross reference

Initiative Type: Study

Date (Publication): 2024

Publisher

Copernicus GmbH

Author

Peng Fukai

Author

Deng Xiaoli

Author

Shen Yunzhong

Author

Cheng Xiao

Unique resource identifier: 10.5194/essd-2024-385

Association Type: Cross reference

Initiative Type: Study

Date (Publication): 2023

Publisher

Research Square Platform LLC

Author

Li Guandong

Author

Tornqvist Torbjorn

Author

Dangendorf Sönke

Unique resource identifier: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3353228/v1

Association Type: Cross reference

Initiative Type: Study

Date (Publication): 2022

Publisher

Informa UK Limited

Author

Ayhan Mehmet Emin

Unique resource identifier: 10.1080/01490419.2022.2047843

Association Type: Cross reference

Initiative Type: Study

Date (Publication): 2022

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Author

Cazenave Anny

Author

Gouzenes Yvan

Author

Birol Florence

Author

Leger Fabien

Author

Passaro Marcello

Author

Calafat Francisco M.

Author

Shaw Andrew

Author

Nino Fernando

Author

Legeais Jean François

Author

Oelsmann Julius

Author

Restano Marco

Author

Benveniste Jérôme

Unique resource identifier: 10.1038/s43247-022-00448-z

Association Type: Cross reference

Initiative Type: Study

Date (Publication): 2022

Publisher

The Royal Society

Author

Cazenave Anny

Author

Moreira Lorena

Unique resource identifier: 10.1098/rspa.2022.0049

Association Type: Cross reference

Initiative Type: Study

Date (Publication): 2021

Publisher

MDPI AG

Author

Meli Matteo

Author

Olivieri Marco

Author

Romagnoli Claudia

Unique resource identifier: 10.3390/rs13010097

Association Type: Cross reference

Initiative Type: Study

Date (Publication): 2021

Publisher

Copernicus GmbH

Author

Tammaro Umberto

Author

Obrizzo Francesco

Author

Riccardi Umberto

Author

La Rocca Adriano

Author

Pinto Salvatore

Author

Brandi Giuseppe

Author

Vertechi Enrico

Author

Capuano Paolo

Unique resource identifier: 10.5194/adgeo-52-105-2021

Association Type: Cross reference

Initiative Type: Study

Date (Publication): 2020

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Author

Benveniste Jérôme

Author

Birol Florence

Author

Calafat Francisco

Author

Cazenave Anny

Author

Dieng Habib

Author

Gouzenes Yvan

Author

Legeais Jean François

Author

Léger Fabien

Author

Niño Fernando

Author

Passaro Marcello

Author

Schwatke Christian

Author

Shaw Andrew

Unique resource identifier: 10.1038/s41597-020-00694-w

Association Type: Cross reference

Initiative Type: Study

Metadata language: English

Topic category

Oceans

Begin date: 2002-01

End date: 2021-06

Distribution format

PDF ( )
NC, NETCDF ( )

OnLine resource: Catalogue of Virtual Stations v2.4 - 244 MB ( WWW:DOWNLOAD-1.0-link--download )
Catalogue of Virtual Stations v2.4 - 244 MB

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Version 2.4 - 312 MB

OnLine resource: Catalogue of Virtual Stations v2.3 [RESTRICTED] - 172 MB ( WWW:DOWNLOAD-1.0-link--download )
Catalogue of Virtual Stations v2.3 [RESTRICTED] - 172 MB

OnLine resource: Quality controlled data ( WWW:DOWNLOAD-1.0-link--download )
Version 2.3 (obsolete version) [RESTRICTED] - 256 MB

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Version 2.2 (obsolete version) [RESTRICTED] - 34 MB

OnLine resource: Quality controlled data ( WWW:DOWNLOAD-1.0-link--download )
Version 2.1 (obsolete version) [RESTRICTED] - 35 MB

OnLine resource: Quality controlled data ( WWW:DOWNLOAD-1.0-link--download )
Version 1 (obsolete version) [RESTRICTED] - 17 MB

OnLine resource: Product User Guide (V1.9) ( WWW:LINK )

OnLine resource: DOI of the product ( WWW:LINK-1.0-http--metadata-URL )

OnLine resource: Seanoe ( rel-canonical )

Hierarchy level: Dataset

Statement: Jason-1, Jason-2, Jason-3 altimeter satellites

File identifier: seanoe:74354 XML

Metadata language: English

Character set: UTF8

Hierarchy level: Dataset

Date stamp: 2025-06-06

Metadata standard name: ISO 19115:2003/19139

Metadata standard version: 1.0

Point of contact

LEGOS, Toulouse, France - Cazenave Anny

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