PIA18158: Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason 2 (Artist's Concept)
An artist's concept of the Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason 2 Earth satellite.
 Mission:  OSTM/Jason-2 
 Spacecraft:  Jason-2
 Product Size:  2000 x 1650 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  JPL 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA18158.tif (9.904 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA18158.jpg (267.8 kB)  

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

The Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason 2 is an Earth satellite designed to make observations of ocean topography for investigations into sea-level rise and the relationship between ocean circulation and climate change. The satellite also provides data on the forces behind such large-scale climate phenomena as El Niño and La Niña.

The mission is a follow-on to the French-American Jason 1 mission, which began collecting data on sea-surface levels in 1992.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Image Addition Date:
2008-09-23