SWOT Emblem

A banner explaining the purpose of the SWOT mission, created and displayed during testing.

Siberian Lakes

An artist’s concept of the SWOT spacecraft (March 2012).

The SWOT satellite observatory is being jointly built by NASA and Centre National D’Études Spatiales (CNES).

Crowds flock to the Earth Sciences exhibits during the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) "Open House" event, giving volunteers (red shirts) a chance to share information about their various miss...

An image of the original concept for the Water and Terrestrial Elevation Recovery (WATER) Mission, which later became SWOT.

Soccer Nets on a levee in the Amazon

Arctic Lakes

SWOT is being jointly developed by NASA and Centre National D’Études Spatiales (CNES).

Disappearing lakes in Barrow, Alaska.

Pictured are team members who helped load the hardware for the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite's research instruments onto a C-17 airplane pose for a picture. The payload left M...

An artist’s concept of the SWOT spacecraft (February 2015).

This SWOT "Bannerbug" exhibit was created for display during hardware tests conducted during an eleven-day period in October 2008.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Open House visitors are delighted to see how well their color-coded stickers match the "sea surface topography" model of the Gulf Stream within a wooden box.

A photograph of the Amazon River Delta, captured by Landsat in 2006.

The U.K. Space Agency will provide a part of the radar payload for SWOT.

The SWOT Payload module consists of two primary components: the Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn) and the Nadir module.

Alaska lakes.

An artist’s concept of the SWOT spacecraft (January 2012).

SWOT leaving NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, en route to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, California. Once the scientific payload arrived, it was sent to a Thale...

This animation shows estimates of average sea ice freeboard — or the amount of ice above the waterline — taken over a 21-day period from Aug. 8, 2023, to Jan. 14, 2024, by the Surface Water and Oce...

Highly visible in their red shirts, SWOT project team members - including Project Manager Parag Vaze at left - interact with the public during the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) "Open House" ...

AirSWOT plays a key role in SWOT mission development. It allows scientists to study interferometric data before launch and thus be prepared to effectively interpret SWOT data after launch.

SWOT will provide NASA’s first global survey of Earth’s surface water.

AirSWOT is using parts of Saskatchewan as a testing ground for mapping water levels.