Find out about the data being produced and its uses
Launched in late 2022, SWOT is providing images of Earth’s oceans, lakes, rivers and wetlands in higher resolution than ever before, revolutionising global assessments of water resources on land.
Opportunities the SWOT mission offers
The high resolution sea surface height maps and data from SWOT are already providing new opportunities for scientific investigation and commercial innovation, including:
- Flood warning and forecasting
- Water resources monitoring and management
- Improved understanding of the dynamics of floodplains and wetlands
- Global studies of water resources, including rivers which cross international borders, lake and reservoir storage and river dynamics.
Applications include:
- Maps of sea surface height and digital elevation maps of flood plains
- Wave height and wind speed
- Wet troposphere and water vapour content
Data from the SWOT mission is starting to be explored and used for research. They can be accessed by creating a login on either of these sites: CNES AVISO+ or NASA podaac
Dr Graham Quartly (Plymouth Marine Laboratory) and Xiaoyan Chen (Ocean University of China) have been investigating the capability of SWOT in its quick repeat validation phase to monitor the formation and evolution of eddies. These records of sea surface height are being compared with temperature data from other satellites and with depth profiles from Argo floats.
Graham says: “These data can greatly advance the study of eddy interactions as the spatial resolution within a swath far exceeds that from previous multi-satellite composites.”
- More guides to UK-involved climate satellites.
Instrumentation
- KaRIn, the Ka-band Radar Interferometer, will increase the resolution of images of water on Earth by up to 10 times (see NASA 2023) using two side antenna for a wider swath than previous satellites, totalling 75miles, or 120km (Morrow et al. 2019, Fjørtoft et al. 2014, Fu and Ubelmann 2014). Each major water resource on land is covered twice every 21 days.
- The Positioning Ocean Solid Earth Ice Dynamics Orbiting Navigator (POSEIDON-3C) is a Jason-class Altimeter which will measure sea surface height between the two KaRIn swaths.
- Finally, the two-beam Microwave Radiometer (AMR-S) allows measurements of water vapour.
- SWOT also carries the DORIS-NG Antenna to receive radio signals, a GPS receiver, and a Laser Retroreflector Assembly to help track the spacecraft from the ground.
Insights
Beth Greenaway, Chair of Space4Climate and the UK Space Agency’s Head of Earth Observation and Climate:
“I’m so proud of the UK expertise enabling SWOT to be built and calibrated. It is a major new climate mission giving unprecedented data across the globe.”
“I encourage Space4Climate members to analyse and develop the data on Earth’s oceans and inland water for innovative climate services and climate action.”
