Some important oceanographic results have been obtained with Goddard Earth Models using satellite altimetry. GEM 9 and GEM 10 have been extended through the addition of worldwide GEOS‐3 altimetry to give new solutions, GEM 10B and IOC, fields that are complete in harmonics to degree 36 and 180, respectively. GEM 9 is a field derived solely from satellite tracking observations, whereas GEM 10 is a combination solution containing surface gravimetry. The accuracy of the oceanic geoid for these models has been estimated by using independent altimeter tracks of GEOS‐3. After empirically removing long wavelength orbital errors, residuals of 1.8 m (rms) were obtained for GEM 10, 0.94 m for GEM 10B, while GEM IOC gave 0.75 m.