The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission will help us better understand our planet... pretty much anywhere!
Hurricanes are large rotating storms, often hundreds of miles across.
However, storm surges are often the most damaging part of a hurricane. Water can pile up in center of the hurricane.
Upon landfall, such "mounds" of seawater can surge onto the coast and cause severe flooding.
Global sea level has risen by about 8 inches since reliable record keeping began in 1880. It is projected to rise another 1 to 4 feet by 2100. Why?
These cities are prone to severe flooding. This is, in part, due to storm surges made worse by sea level rise.
Ocean fronts and eddies also move carbon dioxide. Both heat & carbon dioxide affect ocean warming.
SWOT will Help better understand Ocean warming, which contributes to...
Where There's Water... There's SWOT!
Launch Date: 2021
Launch Vehicle: SpaceX Falcon 9
Altitude in orbit: 857 km (532.5 mi)
Swath: 120 km (75 mi) wide
Coverage: 77.6°N to 77.6°S with an average revisit time of 11 days
Partners: NASA and Centre National D'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and United Kingdom Space Agency
Links and Other Information
- Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth [NASA Johnson Space Center]
- Gulf Stream Sea Surface Currents and Temperatures [NASA Scientific Visualization Studio]
- Blooming Baltic Sea [NASA Earth Observatory]
- Benjamin Franklin [Joseph Duplessis]
- Uncharted Waters: Nantucket Whalers and the Franklin-Folger Chart of the Gulf Stream [Richardson and Adams, 2018]
- Hurricane Train [NASA Scientific Visualization Studio]
- Hot Water Ahead for Hurricane Irma [NASA Earth Observatory]
- A Changed Coastline in New Jersey [NASA Scientific Visualization Studio]
- Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey [Wikipedia]
- Meltdown [NASA Scientific Visualization Studio]
- Sea Level Rise Viewer [NOAA]
- Stirring Up a Bloom off Patagonia [NASA Earth Observatory]
- New Study: Heat is Being Stored Beneath the Ocean Surface [NASA Earth Observatory]
- Tracks of All Known Category 5 Atlantic Hurricanes between 1851 and 2014 [Wikipedia]
- Antarctic Mysteries [NASA Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica]
- Global Temperature Anomalies from 1880 to 2018 [NASA Scientific Visualization Studio]
- Other images used under 123rf License Agreement [ID 41780958, 101477244, 112040755, 104877900]