Sea Surface Height (SSH)
D1. Physical and chemical oceanography and marine meteorologyDefinition
Elevation of the sea surface relative to a reference, typically measured by altimetry.
Sea surface height is the elevation of the sea surface relative to a reference such as the geoid or an ellipsoid, measured to centimeter accuracy by satellite radar altimeters (TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason, Sentinel-6). Its slope gives the surface geostrophic current; its variability reveals mesoscale eddies, Rossby and Kelvin waves, and ENSO; its long-term trend tracks global and regional sea-level rise. Mean dynamic topography is the time-mean SSH above the geoid.