SWOT (Animated Gif)

Lake Calado, Amazon

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

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

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

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

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

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 ...

Arctic Lakes

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

Part of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite's science instrument payload sits in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory during assembly.  

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.

Disappearing lakes in Barrow, Alaska.

Emblem for the SWOT mission.

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.

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

A diagram illustrating the swaths of data that SWOT will collect. 

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

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

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

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...

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

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.

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

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