Surface Water and Ocean Topography

Surface Water and Ocean Topography
SWOT satellite
NamesSWOT
Mission typeHydrology, Oceanography
OperatorNASA / CNES
COSPAR ID2022-173A Edit this at Wikidata
Mission durationPlanned: 3 years
Elapsed: 1 year, 6 months, 28 days
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft typeSurface Water and Ocean Topography
BusSWOT
ManufacturerThales Alenia Space
Launch mass2000 kg
Start of mission
Launch date16 December 2022[1]
RocketFalcon 9
Launch siteVandenberg, SLC-4E
ContractorSpaceX
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric orbit
RegimeLow Earth orbit
Periapsis altitude857 km (533 mi)
Apoapsis altitude857 km (533 mi)
Inclination77.6°
Period102.89 minutes
Repeat interval1 sidereal day

Alternate SWOT Mission Patch by NASA  

The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission is a satellite altimeter jointly developed and operated by NASA and CNES, the French space agency, in partnership with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and UK Space Agency (UKSA).[2] The objectives of the mission are to make the first global survey of the Earth's surface water, to observe the fine details of the ocean surface topography, and to measure how terrestrial surface water bodies change over time.

While past satellite missions like the Jason series altimeters (TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, Jason-2, Jason-3) have provided variation in river and lake water surface elevations at select locations, SWOT will provide the first truly global observations of changing water levels, stream slopes, and inundation extents in rivers, lakes, and floodplains. In the world's oceans, SWOT will observe ocean circulation at unprecedented scales of 15–25 km (9.3–15.5 mi), approximately an order of magnitude finer than current satellites. It does this using synthetic aperture radar interferometry.[3] Because it uses wide-swath altimetry technology, SWOT will almost completely observe the world's oceans and freshwater bodies with repeated high-resolution elevation measurements, allowing observations of variations.

  1. ^ "Live coverage: SpaceX ready to launch U.S.-French environmental satellite". spaceflightnow.com. 16 December 2022. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  2. ^ Bains, Navdeep (7 March 2016). "2016-17 Report on Plans and Priorities". Canadian Space Agency. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  3. ^ Rodriguez, Ernesto; Fernandez, Daniel Esteban; Peral, Eva; Chen, Curtis W.; De Bleser, Jan-Willem; Williams, Brent (2017), "Wide-Swath Altimetry: A Review", Satellite Altimetry Over Oceans and Land Surfaces, CRC Press, doi:10.1201/9781315151779-2/wide-swath-altimetry-ernesto-rodriguez-daniel-esteban-fernandez-eva-peral-curtis-chen-jan-willem-de-bleser-brent-williams, ISBN 978-1-315-15177-9, retrieved 24 March 2024{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

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