Rising ocean levels have slowly become a mainstream concern as the effect of global warming continues to ramp up. Now, scientists can accurately gauge the impact of the greenhouse effect on water bodies all over the world with NASA’s new satellite. 

Called the Surface Water and Ocean Topography satellite, or SWOT, this satellite was constructed at the cost of $1.2 billion. The satellite was launched yesterday from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, with scientists the world over lauding NASA’s effort to improve the availability of data on water bodies.

The SWOT is a joint initiative undertaken by the French National Centre For Space Studies and NASA and will use a novel method of information collection to improve the clarity of data for oceanographers worldwide. This satellite uses radar to bounce waves off the surface of water bodies all over the world, which will then be interpreted to provide information on the elevation of water in a given body, along with the extent and movement of water contained in it. 

Previous satellites struggled to provide information on water bodies, especially those smaller than one hectare. As prior satellites work on traditional imaging techniques, scientists routinely waited for over 90 days to collect data on 227,000 lakes. With SWOT, scientists can measure six million water bodies every ten or eleven days, representing a sea change in the data available to them. Sarah Cooley, a geographer at Oregon State University in Eugene, said, “The data that will be provided by SWOT is orders of magnitude beyond what we were able to do.”

In preparation for the rich data that will be provided by SWOT, scientists have already devised new methods to estimate the flow of water using data, such as water height and elevation change. 

In addition to providing a bevy of data on freshwater bodies, SWOT also has an ace up its sleeve when it comes to larger saltwater bodies. The satellite will provide high-resolution data on ocean currents, swirling eddies and the strength of tides. 

This is being hailed as an advancement in tracking the effect of global warming on oceans, as it can accurately gauge how the heat and carbon dioxide from our atmosphere travels into the depths of the ocean. In order to set a baseline for the measurements taken by SWOT, an international consortium involving scientists from the United States, France, Australia, and others will conduct field expeditions to 18 ocean sites all over the world. 

NASA has become extremely active of late and are looking to launch Artemis I, a space programme that will put the first person of colour on the moon. This is also part of their larger move towards moon exploration after establishing their presence in low-earth orbit applications like the International Space Station. NASA has also partnered with ISRO to study hazards and global environmental change through an undertaking known as NISAR.