AGU Conference 2024

Media Workshop

Monday, December 9

3:30pm ET

data swath over the yukon
The mighty Yukon River and nearby lakes appear in red in this image produced using data recorded on June 18, 2023, by the international Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite as it passed over Alaska. The satellite measures the height of nearly all the water on Earth's surface, providing one of the most detailed, comprehensive views yet of the planet's ocean and fresh water.

In a hands-on session, researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and Ohio State University will walk reporters through two new freshwater data dashboards from the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission.

Water is life, but we have reliable water level measurements for only a few thousand lakes around the world, and little to no data on some of the planet’s important river systems. The international SWOT satellite is filling in that enormous gap.

The two new data dashboards will make it easier to access SWOT’s data on freshwater levels around the world on a roughly 1.5- to 2-week timescale. Hosted by the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, one dashboard contains global river data from SWOT. The other dashboard, hosted by USGS, focuses on rivers and lakes in the United States. The USGS dashboard also includes the agency’s streamflow measurements taken by on-the-ground sensors.

Panelist Information

Freshwater Data Dashboards

SWOTViz

Global river data based on information from the international SWOT satellite.

https://swotviz.cuahsi.io/

Water Information from Space (WISP)

Dashboard focused on the U.S. that contains satellite data from SWOT as well as gage measurements from the U.S. Geological Survey.

https://apps.usgs.gov/wisp

Media Contacts

Jane J. Lee / Andrew Wang

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

626-491-1943 / 626-379-6874

jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov / andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov