Ground control to major tides - Mapping the Earth's surface water levels from above

Bell, Paul ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4673-4822. 2024 Ground control to major tides - Mapping the Earth's surface water levels from above. Marine Professional.

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Abstract/Summary

The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission is a pioneering three-year Earth orbiting satellite launched in December 2022 to map the Earth's surface water levels and assess freshwater resources in unprecedented detail. The SWOT standard low resolution products provide images of surface water levels globally, at 2km spatial resolution in two adjacent 60km swaths. SWOT high-resolution products are finer still, allowing rivers wider than 100m to be resolved over the Earth's landmasses and coastal areas at latitudes between 78' N and 78' S - to near-centimetric vertical accuracy. Existing nadir-pointing satellite altimeters flown for the past 30 years provide only single tracks of data at widely spaced intervals.