Since 1985, 18 satellite radar altimeter missions have captured significant wave height and wind speed across the global ocean, compiling an incredible 3.4 billion observations.
The multi-mission altimeter dataset was compiled and standardised by Agustinus Ribal and Ian Young at University of Melbourne. Their methodology involves calibrating individual satellite missions against offshore NDBC buoys, cross-validating data at satellite crossover points, and applying observation-level quality control. This process aligns measurements from GEOSAT (1985) through SWOT (2026) into a standardized long-term record..
Full credit to IMOS and the Australian Ocean Data Network for maintaining and publishing this vital scientific resource as new data arrives.
What Datamesh brings to the table is effortless access.
Instead of navigating over 700,000 individual NetCDF files, Datamesh consolidates the archive into a single, highly queryable datasource. Pull every observation ever recorded in your target area or query a global snapshot for any day in seconds — all with just a few lines of Python and zero file management.
Explore the worked examples in our Jupyter notebook:
https://github.com/oceanum-io/notebooks/blob/main/datamesh_imos_altimetry.ipynb
- Track a swell across the Pacific directly from its generating storm.
- Rank twelve offshore wind lease areas based on operational workability.
- Validate global wave models against independent satellite observations.
Ribal, A. & Young, I.R. (2019). 33 years of globally calibrated wave height and wind speed data based on altimeter observations. Scientific Data 6, 77. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0083-9
#Oceanography #Metocean #OffshoreWind #SatelliteAltimetry #OceanData #IMOS
