SWOT 3D Model

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 video gallery produced by CNES highlights some of the first images from the SWOT mission, from sea ice extent to coastal sea height to river and lake measurements around the globe.

Nine months after the mission’s successful launch, the SWOT Science Team met in Toulouse, France, bringing together 300 people from 17 countries on all continents to discuss the results obtained wi...

An overview of SWOT's first data with mission engineer Curtis Chen

Watch with NASA as we launch an international mission to understand the Earth's water like never before.  

The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite deployed its solar arrays while in Earth orbit.

Highlights from the Dec. 15, 2022, launch of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite, a mission led by NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES). SW...

This collaborative mission poster, designed by CNES (French Space Agency), shows the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite soaring over an abstract of a water molecule.

Earth’s 370 quintillion gallons of water can be found all over the planet in lakes, rivers, glaciers, oceans, and groundwater. However, only a tiny fraction of this water is usable by humans. Under...

This SWOT Fact Sheet provides an overview of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission, including its key objectives, science instruments, and mission partners.

Cedric David is part of the science team behind the international Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite, a mission led by NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spa...

Christine Gebara is part of the team building the international Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite, a mission led by NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spati...

Marc Simard is part of the science team behind the international Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission, led by NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES)...

Tahani Amer oversees several Earth science missions for NASA, including the international Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite, a mission led by NASA and the French space agency Cent...

Meet some of the scientists and engineers contributing to a new Earth science mission, led by NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES). The Surface Water and Ocean...

A presentation on SWOT by Dr. Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, Director of the NASA Sea Level Change Team and the Ocean Physics program. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission will be NASA...

Source: To become operational in orbit, SWOT will need to deploy components that were stored for the launch and orbit insertion process. After the solar panels have been extended, the booms and ant...

To become operational in orbit, SWOT will need to deploy components that were stored for the launch and orbit insertion process. First, the solar panels will deploy to power the spacecraft. This an...

Earth is our home. The SWOT mission will give us a better understanding of our world’s oceans and terrestrial surface waters while showing us why these resources are so important.

NASA and CNES (French Space Agency) are collaborating to make the first global survey of Earth's surface fresh water and study fine-scale ocean currents with a new mission called SWOT, or Surface W...

The SWOT satellite's research instruments and components packaged and ready for transport to Thales Alenia Space near Cannes, France. Traveling from March Air Force Base in Riverside County, Califo...

A view of SWOT from inside a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft, as it was being loaded en route to Thales Alenia Space near Cannes, France.

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...

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 ...

Engineers integrate separate parts of the SWOT satellite into one in a Thales Alenia Space clean room facility in Cannes, France.