NASA Launches International Mission to Survey Earth’s Water

Last Friday morning, the international Surface Water and Ocean Topography satellite, known as SWOT, lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The mission will provide crucial data on Earth’s water supplies, assist with local water management, and help improve flood forecasting, among other benefits.

The mission, a joint project between NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales, will survey water on more than 90 percent of the Earth’s surface and measure the height of water in lakes, reservoirs, and rivers as well as the oceans. The data from SWOT’s measurements will determine how oceans influence climate change as well as how global warming is impacting lakes, rivers, and reservoirs. The satellite’s measurements can also help local communities better prepare for flooding and other water-related disasters, which are becoming more frequent due to the changing climate. Specifically, SWOT will provide data on more than 95 percent of the world’s lakes larger than 15 acres (62,500 square meters) and rivers wider than 330 feet (100 meters) across. It will also help scientists better track sea level rise. SWOT is anticipated to start producing research data within months.

“We’re going to be able to track the movement of water around the Earth between ocean and land, be able to make some of these connections and really understand where water is at any given time,” said Benjamin Hamlington, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “This is really critical because we know with climate change that the water cycle is accelerating. What this means is that some locations have too much water, others don’t have enough.” Read more at NASA or at CBS News.