NASA's Blue Marble

Arctic

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

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" ...

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...

This image shows sea surface heights off the northern California coast in August 2023 as measured by the SWOT satellite.

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

Soccer Nets on a levee in the Amazon

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

A photograph of the Varzea Forest area of Brazil (4 of 4).

Alaska lakes.

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

A photograph of the Varzea Forest area of Brazil (2 of 4).

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.

Floodplain Channel in the Amazon

Visiting Scout uses a color-coded, calibrated stick to determine "sea surface topography" within a wooden box while his sister records his results by placing stickers on a card.

Arctic Lakes

Emblem for the SWOT mission.

Amazon Fishermen

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...

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

An early rendering of the SWOT spacecraft (February 2011).

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

Siberian Lakes

The logo for the Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) Mission.

Teams from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and the March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, California, loaded the scientific payload for the SWOT Earth-observing satelli...