NASA's Blue Marble

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

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

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...

Arctic Lakes

Disappearing lakes in Barrow, Alaska.

SWOT's nominal coverage during its 3-year science orbit will include measurements between 78°N and 78°S collected over a period of 21 days. Maps show the coverage after 3 days (left) and the full 2...

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

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" ...

Mounted above the Payload Module, the Spacecraft Bus is a multi-purpose platform housing many of the electronics required for the observatory to function, including components for power, propulsion...

SWOT Applications Lead, Margaret Srinivasan, helps young visitors match data user types - from coastal safety officers to farmers - with pictures representing SWOT applications.

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

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

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

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

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...

NASA has selected Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California, to provide launch services for SWOT.

SWOT will collect data across a 75-mile (120-kilometer) wide swath, with a gap in the center for an altimetry track. This animation shows the collection of data over the state of Florida, which is ...

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

Soccer Nets on a levee in the Amazon

A Flooded Forest in the Amazon

Amazon Fishermen

Emblem for the SWOT mission.

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

Artist's impression of the future SWOT satellite making sea surface height observations, even through clouds.

Siberian Lakes