The Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC) is the NASA data center responsible for archiving and distributing data relevant to the physical state of the ocean. Most of the data products available at PO.DAAC were obtained from Earth observing satellites and are primarily intended for use in scientific research. You can choose a product from our "Data Catalog" pulldown menu found in the blue navigation bar at the top of each PO.DAAC page.

PO.DAAC is an element of the Earth Observing System Data Information System (EOSDIS). PO.DAAC's primary responsibility is to provide distribution and archive support for NASA's physical oceanography missions such as TOPEX/Poseidon and SeaWinds on QuikSCAT. However, PO.DAAC additionally collaborates with other institutes to acquire complementary data products and value-added services. Our partners currently include: the Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG) at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the Centre National D'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), NAVOCEANO, the University of Miami and Brigham Young University.

PO.DAAC works closely with its EOSDIS advisory group, known as the PO.DAAC User Working Group and with NASA instrument and science teams in order to obtain guidance in data product development, management and distribution. This ensures that PO.DAAC data and services meet the ongoing needs of the oceanographic community.

PO.DAAC is located at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

Cost of Data
All PO.DAAC holdings are free of charge to scientists, educators, and the general public. However, any products freely obtained from PO.DAAC may not be redistributed for profit.

Citing PO.DAAC Data
Please credit PO.DAAC for the use of any data products, services and on-line images obtained from our web and FTP sites. Citation of our products allows credit to be given to our data contributors as well as to the distributing data center.

Example citations are as follows:

"The QuikSCAT Level 3 data were obtained from the Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA."

"The AVHRR Oceans Pathfinder data were obtained through the on-line subsetting tool (POET) at the Physicaly Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA."

"Multi-channel sea surface temperature images were obtained from the web site, http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/sst, maintained by the NASA Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center, Pasadena, CA. March 2007. Data for the image were provided by the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO).

Proposing New Products
For information on archiving and distributing your scientific research data through the JPL PO.DAAC, please contact the PO.DAAC User Services Office at podaac@podaac.jpl.nasa.gov