NASA’s new satellite mission to monitor global climate change, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT), has recently launched a key instrument online. The SWOT satellite will use advanced radar technology to measure changes in Earth’s water levels, which is critical to understanding how climate change is affecting the planet’s water cycle.
The SWOT instrument, which stands for the KaRIn (Ka-band Radar Interferometer), is a complex piece of technology that will produce high-resolution 3D maps of Earth’s surface water. This information will help scientists to better understand how rivers, lakes, and oceans are changing over time, and how these changes are affecting the global climate.
The SWOT mission is a joint project between NASA and the French space agency CNES, with contributions from the Canadian and British space agencies. The mission is set to launch in 2022 and will operate for at least three years.
According to NASA, the SWOT mission will help scientists to develop more accurate models of the Earth’s water cycle and improve our understanding of how it is impacted by climate change. This information will be critical for policymakers and decision-makers as they work to address the challenges posed by a changing climate.
