SWOT - SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
News: NASA
set to conduct first global water survey from space
What's in the news?
● A
NASA-led international satellite was launched from Southern California, on a
major Earth science project to conduct a comprehensive survey of the world’s
oceans, lakes and rivers for the first time.
Key takeaways:
● Dubbed
as SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean
Topography), the advanced radar satellite is designed to give an
unprecedented view of the life-giving fluid covering 70% of the planet,
shedding new light on the mechanics and consequences of climate change.
● A
Falcon 9 rocket, owned and operated
by billionaire Elon Musk’s commercial launch company SpaceX, was set to lift
off from the Vandenberg U.S. Space Force Base, about 170 miles (275 km)
northwest of Los Angeles, to carry SWOT into orbit.
SWOT:
● Nearly
20 years in development, the SWOT incorporates advanced microwave radar
technology that scientists say will collect
height-surface measurements of oceans, lakes, reservoirs and rivers in
high-definition detail over 90% of the globe.
Significance of SWOT:
1. Enhanced models:
● The
data, compiled from radar sweeps of the planet at least twice every 21 days,
will enhance ocean-circulation models,
bolster weather and climate forecasts and aid in managing scarce freshwater
supplies in drought-stricken regions, according to researchers.
● One
major thrust of the mission is to explore
how oceans absorb atmospheric heat and carbon dioxide in a natural process
that moderates global temperatures and climate change.
2. Better results:
● Scanning
the seas from orbit, the SWOT was designed to precisely measure fine
differences in surface elevations around smaller currents and eddies, where
much of the ocean's drawdown of heat and carbon is believed to occur.
● The
SWOT can do so with 10 times greater resolution than existing technologies,
according to JPL.
● The
SWOT’s ability to discern smaller surface features will help study the impact
of rising ocean levels on coastlines. More precise data along tidal zones would
help predict how far storm-surge flooding may penetrate inland.
● Freshwater
bodies are another key focus of the SWOT, equipped to observe the entire length of nearly all rivers wider than 330 feet and
more than 1 million lakes and reservoirs larger than 15 acres.