TOPEX/Poseidon
Sea Surface Height (SSH) 1993 - 1999
and
Significant Wave Height (SWH) 1998 - 1999

These data are part of the Product Number 001 of the Multi-parameter data products made available from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PODAAC)

Product Title: Monthly Mean Global Surface Ocean Variables (Halpern et al.)
Source/sensor: ARGOS Buoys, AVHRR/2, ERS-1 and -2, GEOSAT, NSCAT, SSM/I, TOPEX/Poseidon, TMI, SeaWiFS
Coverage: 1987-1999, global
Abstract: The Monthly Mean Global Surface Ocean Variables data set consists of monthly mean averages of global sea surface temperature, sea surface height, significant wave height, chlorophyll-a concentration, surface wind speed, surface wind velocity and near-surface current. Please note that the years over which the monthly averages were calculated and the distance between measurements differ for each data set.

For more information: http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/order/order_datacol.html
Data are available via ftp at: ftp://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/data_collections/monthly_mean_atlas/

Note that the TOPEX/Poseidon Sea Surface Height Data are available for three different periods: 1993, 1994, and 1995-1999; and the Significant Wave Height data are available only for the 2-year period 1998-1999.
The periods remain separate because each is reported on different grids:

Sea Surface Height

DATE	DIMENSIONS	NOTES
1993	540 pixels longitude X 270 pixels latitude lon limits: 0.3333 (E) to 359.6667 (E) (cell centers) lat limits: -89.3333 (S) to 89.3333 (N) units: centimeters land = -9999 missing value = 1.e30	Missing values in the original file were 9999; in the LAS NetCDF file, these were converted to 1.e³⁰
1994	539 pixels longitude X 396 pixels latitude lon limits: 0.3333 (E) to 359.3333 (E) (cell centers) lat limits: -65.8333 (S) to 65.8333 (N) units: centimeters land = -9999 missing value = 1.e30	The LAS NetCDF file for 1994 was produced as a 540 X 396 pixel file; the cells in the last column (359.6667) are all designated as missing values. Missing values in the original file were 9999; in the LAS NetCDF file, these were converted to 1.e³⁰
1995-1999	540 pixels longitude X 540 pixels latitude lon limits: 0.3333 (E) to 359.6667 (E) (cell centers) lat limits: -89.8333 (S) to 89.8333 (N) units: centimeters land = -9999 missing value = 1.e30	Missing values in the original file were 9999; in the LAS NetCDF file, these were converted to 1.e³⁰

Significant Wave Height

DATE	DIMENSIONS	NOTES
1998-1999	360 pixels longitude X 180 pixels latitude lon limits: 0.5 (E) to 359.5 (E) (cell centers) lat limits: -89.5 (S) to 89.5 (N) units: meters land = -9999 missing value = 1.e30	Missing values in the original file were 32627; in the LAS NetCDF file, these were converted to 1.e³⁰

These data were converted to NetCDF format by J Kleypas, on Oct 1, 2001.