Source: CNES and Mira Productions
Published: February 1, 2016

The water cycle is how atmosphere, land and ocean processes interact with each other. Since the launch of TOPEX/Poseidon in 1992, lake levels have been monitored but not on a global scale due to instrument and orbit limitations. The hope is that the SWOT mission will be able to remedy current issues with radar altimeters by employing a larger observation area and measuring water heights at a finer resolution.