Artist's Impression of the SWOT Satellite
![Artist's impression of the future SWOT satellite making sea surface height observations, even through clouds.](/rails/active_storage/blobs/redirect/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaHBEdz09IiwiZXhwIjpudWxsLCJwdXIiOiJibG9iX2lkIn19--117432df4ef53e7aad753b16e62e34e6f30ce7cc/swot_artist_eos_800.jpg?disposition=inline)
Source:
CNES
Published:
January 2, 2019
Artist's impression of the future SWOT satellite making sea surface height observations, even through clouds. SWOT will rely on a satellite altimeter that will use radar interferometry to make high-resolution (~1-km) measurements over two 60-km-wide swaths of water at once, with a conventional nadir altimeter in the gap in between.
This new SWOT measurement will extend the two-dimensional resolution of ocean surface topography down to between 15 and 45 km in wavelength, detecting small eddies with diameters of 7 to 20 km, depending on ocean surface conditions. This advance will offer researchers new opportunities to study the oceanic dynamic processes at these scales over the global oceans.