SWOT Website Guide

To help viewers navigate the website, we’ve created this “Website Guide.” It is organized by topic with links to specific parts of the SWOT website and beyond. The plan is to expand this Guide as more information about SWOT is developed in the future.

1 – Introduction

• Mission Overview
• Science Overview

2 – Science Focus Areas

• Oceanography
• Hydrology
• Global Observations of Fine-Scale Ocean Surface Topography With the SWOT Mission (Morrow et al., 2019)
• 2015 White Papers Developed by the SWOT Science Team
  • Tides and the SWOT Mission: Transition from Science Definition Team to Science Team
  • Mesoscale / sub-mesoscale Dynamics in the Upper Ocean
  • Issues and SWOT Contribution in the Coastal Zones and Estuaries (Part 1)
  • Coastal Seas and Shelf Processes (Part 2)
• 2012 SWOT Mission Science Document – This document addresses the work of the previous SWOT Science Team and will be updated by the current Science Team.
• SWOT Applications Overview
• SWOT Applications Areas

3 – Mission Science Requirements

• SWOT Science Requirements Document

4 – Mission Characteristics

• Flight Systems
• Ground Systems & Data – Overview, Satellite Operations, and Mission System Architecture are covered in this section.
• Swath Visualizer
• AVISO+ – Orbit Information
• PO.DAAC – SWOT Spatial Coverage
  • Click "SPATIAL COVERAGE" in the left-hand navigation to view.

5 – Mission Data Products

• Ground Systems & Data – Science Data Processing and Data Products for Public Distribution are covered in this section.
• PO.DAAC – SWOT Data
• PO.DAAC – SWOT Datasets
  • Click "DATASETS" in the left-hand navigation to view.

6 – Error Sources

• SWOT Mission Performance and Error Budget Document
• The Wavenumber Spectra and Standard Deviations of Uncorrelated Errors in SWOT Measurements of Sea-Surface Height for Various Footprint Sizes (Chelton, 2019)
• Theoretical Basis for the Resolution and Noise of SWOT Estimates of Sea-Surface Height (Chelton, Samelson, and Farrar, 2015)

7 – Calibration & Validation

• SWOT Calibration / Validation Plan (Initial Release)
• Oceanography Articles on Calibration & Validation
  • Scientists Invited to Collaborate in Satellite Mission's Debut (Morrow et al., 2019)
  • Frontiers in Fine-Scale in situ Studies: Opportunities During the SWOT Fast Sampling Phase (d'Ovidio et al., 2019)
• ​Hydrology Articles on Calibration & Validation
  • Temporal Variations in River Water Surface Elevation and Slope Captured by AirSWOT (Altenau et al., 2019)
  • AirSWOT InSAR Mapping of Surface Water Elevations and Hydraulic Gradients Across the Yukon Flats Basin, Alaska (Pitcher et al., 2018)
  • ​AirSWOT Measurements of River Water Surface Elevation and Slope: Tanana River, AK (Altenau et al., 2016)

8 – References

• SWOT Publications

9 – Historical Background

• Measuring Global Oceans and Terrestrial Freshwater from Space (Alsdorf et al., 2007)
• Observing Oceanic Submesoscale Processes from Space (Fu and Ferrari, 2008)
• The SWOT Mission: Spaceborne Radar Interferometry for Oceanographic and Hydrological Applications (Fu et al., 2009)
• Tracking River Flows from Space (Gleason et al., 2017)
• Global Extent of Rivers and Streams (Allen and Pavelsky, 2018)

10 – SWOT Science Team

• Science Team Projects