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slide 1 - Water-Watching Satellite Monitors Warming Ocean off California Coast

Water-Watching Satellite Monitors Warming Ocean off California Coast

The international Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission is able to measure ocean features, like El Niño, closer to a coastline than previous space-based missions. Read More ›

slide 2 - SWOT Captures the Yukon River in Alaska

SWOT Captures the Yukon River in Alaska

SWOT passed over the Yukon River and recorded this data during a period called calibration and validation, when the mission confirms the accuracy of its data. Read More ›

slide 3 - Crews Head Down River, Out to Sea to Prep New SWOT Water Satellite

Crews Head Down River, Out to Sea to Prep New SWOT Water Satellite

A lot of hard work goes into ensuring a spacecraft like the Surface Water and Ocean Topography satellite delivers accurate data. Learn More ›

slide 4 - SWOT Measures Tuvalu Sea Level

SWOT Measures Tuvalu Sea Level

The recently launched Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission collected data on sea levels around two of the inhabited islands of Tuvalu, a nation in the South Pacific Ocean that has been threatened with sea level rise that substantially exceeds the global average. Read More ›

slide 5 - On the Edge: NASA's Last S-MODE Mission Studies the Ocean's Surface

On the Edge: NASA's Last S-MODE Mission Studies the Ocean's Surface

The mission is gathering observations with airborne sensors, a research ship, and autonomous instruments like gliders that skim the upper layers of the Pacific Ocean. Read More ›

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Why SWOT Matters

Detecting New Ocean Features

Detecting New Ocean Features

Enabling Data Applications

Enabling Data Applications

Assessing Freshwater Resources

Assessing Freshwater Resources

Detecting New Ocean Features

Enabling Data Applications

Assessing Freshwater Resources

Features

On World Water Day, to celebrate this precious and finite resource, we spoke with experts and learned about the importance of groundwater, how our ocean affects us and how one of our upcoming Earth missions will give us a unique perspective on water.

Oceanographer Dr. Matt Archer and Hydrologist Dr. Cedric David talk about how SWOT will change our perspective on water.

Oceanographer Dr. Matt Archer and Hydrologist Dr. Cedric David talk about how SWOT will change our perspective on water.

One of the things the SWOT mission will do is help scientists track the amount of fresh water in lakes, rivers, and reservoirs, and monitor how they change over time.

Hydrologist Dr. Cedric David explains how SWOT will study rivers and lakes

Hydrologist Dr. Cedric David explains how SWOT will study rivers and lakes

Sascha Burton and her work on SWOT were featured by NASA Earth on International Women's Day

Photo of SWOT Mechanical Integration Lead, Sascha Burton

SWOT Mechanical Integration Lead Sascha Burton featured on International Women's Day

Missions studying climate systems & processes such as surface water and oceans, extreme storms, and atmospheric dust will be launching this year, with SWOT among them.

Several Earth Missions Launching in 2022

Several Earth Missions Launching in 2022

NASA has funded 11 new projects as part of the agency’s Earth Science Data Systems’ Advancing Collaborative Connections for Earth Systems Science (ACCESS) program. Proposals submitted in 2019 and funded in 2020 focused on three areas: machine learning, science in the cloud, and open source tools.

A surface water map of the Ohio River

NASA Funds Projects to Make Geosciences Data More Accessible

How much do you know about SWOT? Take the quiz and learn about how and where SWOT will provide us with new and detailed information on one of our most important resources– water.

screenshot from the Where's Water Quiz

"Where's Water?" Quiz

The SWOT Science Team is made up of researchers from across the globe, with expertise in ocean and hydrologic sciences. Learn more about what will make SWOT a transformational satellite mission by visiting the Science Team page.

large group of smiling people standing on steps of building

Scroll through these e-brochures to learn what SWOT will measure –and why the very first comprehensive view of Earth's freshwater bodies from space will be so important for both research and society.

title slide of SWOT e-brochure

View e-Brochures

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News & Announcements

February 22, 2023

SWOT's eyes over Earth's surface water

SWOT's Program Scientist, Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer was interviewed by Yanhua Chen for Nature Water.
NASA Launches International Mission to Survey Earth's Water

On Friday, December 16, 2022, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California with the SWOT spacecraft onboard.
December 29, 2022

Watch the Latest Water Satellite Unfold Itself in Space

Cameras on the SWOT spacecraft captured the antennas for its main science instrument unfurling in orbit.

Partners

Partners

SWOT is being jointly developed by NASA and Centre National D'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and United Kingdom Space Agency.