Jason-1 satellite orbiting the Earth,artwork. This satellite,launched in 2001,is a joint mission between NASA and the CNES (the French space agency). It uses an array of five instruments,including a radar altimeter,to map ocean surface topography to a high degree of accuracy. This allows global monitoring of tides,ocean currents and oscillations,ocean circulation,and climate change-induced rises in sea levels. It is the successor to the Topex-Poseidon satellite (1992-2006) and was itself followed by the Jason-2 satellite (also known as the Ocean Surface Topography Mission,OSTM),which was launched in 2008 |