TOPEX/Poseidon
E824053
TOPEX/Poseidon was a joint NASA–CNES satellite mission launched in 1992 that revolutionized oceanography by precisely measuring global sea surface height and enabling major advances in the study of ocean circulation and sea-level change.
All labels observed (5)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| TOPEX/Poseidon canonical | 6 |
| TOPEX Poseidon | 1 |
| TOPEX radar altimeter | 1 |
| TOPEX/Poseidon mission | 1 |
| TOPEX/Poseidon–Jason altimetry program | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T9838132 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: TOPEX/Poseidon Context triple: [Jason oceanography satellites, hasMember, TOPEX/Poseidon]
-
A.
Aqua satellite
Aqua is a NASA Earth observation satellite focused on studying the planet’s water cycle, including oceans, atmosphere, and ice.
-
B.
Oceansat-1
Oceansat-1 is an Indian remote sensing satellite dedicated to oceanographic and atmospheric studies, including monitoring ocean color, surface winds, and related marine resources.
-
C.
Oceansat-2
Oceansat-2 is an Indian Earth observation satellite designed primarily for oceanographic and atmospheric studies, including monitoring ocean color, surface winds, and coastal zones.
-
D.
GRACE mission
The GRACE mission is a joint NASA–German Aerospace Center satellite project that precisely measures Earth's gravity field over time to study changes in ice sheets, sea level, groundwater, and other aspects of the global water cycle.
-
E.
NOAA-14
NOAA-14 is a U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather satellite that provided polar-orbiting environmental observations for forecasting and climate monitoring.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: TOPEX/Poseidon Target entity description: TOPEX/Poseidon was a joint NASA–CNES satellite mission launched in 1992 that revolutionized oceanography by precisely measuring global sea surface height and enabling major advances in the study of ocean circulation and sea-level change.
-
A.
Aqua satellite
Aqua is a NASA Earth observation satellite focused on studying the planet’s water cycle, including oceans, atmosphere, and ice.
-
B.
Oceansat-1
Oceansat-1 is an Indian remote sensing satellite dedicated to oceanographic and atmospheric studies, including monitoring ocean color, surface winds, and related marine resources.
-
C.
Oceansat-2
Oceansat-2 is an Indian Earth observation satellite designed primarily for oceanographic and atmospheric studies, including monitoring ocean color, surface winds, and coastal zones.
-
D.
GRACE mission
The GRACE mission is a joint NASA–German Aerospace Center satellite project that precisely measures Earth's gravity field over time to study changes in ice sheets, sea level, groundwater, and other aspects of the global water cycle.
-
E.
NOAA-14
NOAA-14 is a U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather satellite that provided polar-orbiting environmental observations for forecasting and climate monitoring.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (50)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Earth observation satellite
ⓘ
joint NASA–CNES mission ⓘ oceanography mission ⓘ |
| accuracy | sea surface height accuracy of about 3–4 cm ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
TOPEX Poseidon
ⓘ
linked to:
TOPEX/Poseidon
|
| contribution |
constrained estimates of ocean heat content change
ⓘ
enabled precise mapping of global ocean circulation ⓘ improved understanding of El Niño and La Niña events ⓘ provided long-term records of global mean sea level ⓘ revolutionized satellite altimetry for oceanography ⓘ supported climate change and sea-level rise studies ⓘ |
| country |
France
ⓘ
United States ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| dataCoverage | global oceans between 66°N and 66°S ⓘ |
| deactivationDate | 2006-10 ⓘ |
| instrument |
DORIS tracking system
ⓘ
Laser Retroreflector Array ⓘ
linked to:
Laser Ranging Instrument
POSEIDON radar altimeter ⓘ
linked to:
Poseidon-4 radar altimeter
TOPEX radar altimeter ⓘ
linked to:
TOPEX/Poseidon
microwave radiometer ⓘ |
| launchDate | 1992-08-10 ⓘ |
| launchSite |
Guiana Space Centre
ⓘ
Kourou, French Guiana ⓘ
linked to:
Kourou
|
| launchVehicle |
Ariane 42P
ⓘ
linked to:
Ariane 4
|
| mass | approximately 2400 kg at launch ⓘ |
| missionDuration | about 13 years ⓘ |
| missionEnd | 2006-10 ⓘ |
| missionStart | 1992-09 ⓘ |
| operator |
CNES
ⓘ
NASA ⓘ |
| orbitInclination | 66 degrees ⓘ |
| orbitPeriod | about 112 minutes ⓘ |
| orbitRegime | low Earth orbit ⓘ |
| orbitType | near-circular orbit ⓘ |
| primaryObjective |
measure global sea surface height
ⓘ
monitor sea-level change ⓘ study large-scale ocean circulation ⓘ |
| program |
TOPEX/Poseidon–Jason altimetry program
ⓘ
linked to:
TOPEX/Poseidon
|
| repeatCycle | 10 days ⓘ |
| scientificDiscipline |
climate science
ⓘ
physical oceanography ⓘ |
| spacecraftBus | CNES Proteus-derived bus ⓘ |
| sponsor |
CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales)
ⓘ
linked to:
CNES
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory ⓘ
linked to:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
|
| status | mission completed ⓘ |
| successor |
Jason-1
ⓘ
Jason-2 ⓘ Jason-3 ⓘ |
| wavelengthBand |
C-band radar altimetry
ⓘ
Ku-band radar altimetry ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: TOPEX/Poseidon Description of subject: TOPEX/Poseidon was a joint NASA–CNES satellite mission launched in 1992 that revolutionized oceanography by precisely measuring global sea surface height and enabling major advances in the study of ocean circulation and sea-level change.
Referenced by (10)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: TOPEX/Poseidon
linked to: TOPEX/Poseidon
linked to: TOPEX/Poseidon
subject linked to:
Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite
linked to: TOPEX/Poseidon
subject linked to:
Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite