This animation shows global sea level data
collected by the Surface Water and Ocean Topography satellite from July 26 to
Aug. 16. Red and orange indicate higher-than-average ocean heights, while blue
represents lower-than-average heights. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Data on sea surface heights around
the world from the international Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission
yields a mesmerizing view of the planet’s ocean.
The Surface Water and Ocean
Topography (SWOT) satellite is sending down tantalizing views of
Earth’s water, including a global composite of sea surface heights. The
satellite collected the data visualized above during SWOT’s first full 21-day
science orbit, which it completed between July 26 and Aug. 16.
SWOT is measuring the height
of nearly all water on Earth’s surface, providing one of the most detailed, comprehensive
views yet of the planet’s oceans and freshwater lakes and rivers. The satellite
is a collaboration between NASA and the French space agency, CNES (Centre
National d’Études Spatiales).
The animation shows sea surface
height anomalies around the world: Red and orange indicate ocean heights that
were higher than the global mean sea surface height, while blue represents
heights lower than the mean. Sea level differences can highlight ocean
currents, like the Gulf Stream coming off the U.S. East Coast or the Kuroshio
current off the east coast of Japan. Sea surface height can also indicate
regions of relatively warmer water – like the eastern part of the equatorial
Pacific Ocean during an El Niño – because water expands as it warms.
The SWOT science team made the
measurements using the groundbreaking Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn) instrument. With two antennas spread 33 feet (10 meters) apart on a boom,
KaRIn produces a pair of data swaths (tracks visible in the animation) as it
circles the globe, bouncing radar pulses off the water’s surface to collect
surface-height measurements.
“The detail that SWOT is sending
back on sea levels around the world is incredible,” said Parag Vaze, SWOT
project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
“The data will advance research into the effects of climate change and help
communities around the world better prepare for a warming world.”
More About the Mission
Launched on Dec. 16, 2022, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in central
California, SWOT is now in its operations phase, collecting data that will be
used for research and other purposes.
SWOT was jointly developed by NASA
and CNES, with contributions from CSA (Canadian Space Agency) and the UK Space
Agency. JPL, which is managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena,
California, leads the U.S. component of the project. For the flight system
payload, NASA provided the KaRIn instrument, a GPS science receiver, a laser
retroreflector, a two-beam microwave radiometer, and NASA instrument
operations. CNES provided the Doppler Orbitography and Radioposition Integrated
by Satellite (DORIS) system, the dual frequency Poseidon altimeter (developed
by Thales Alenia Space), the KaRIn radio-frequency subsystem (together with
Thales Alenia Space and with support from the UK Space Agency), the satellite
platform, and ground operations. CSA provided the KaRIn high-power transmitter
assembly. NASA provided the launch vehicle and the agency’s Launch Services
Program, based at Kennedy Space Center, managed the associated launch services.
To learn more about SWOT, visit:
https://swot.jpl.nasa.gov/
Source: See SWOT Mission’s Unprecedented View of Global Sea Levels - NASA
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