NASA’s New Satellite Provides Stunning Global Sea Level Maps and Advances Climate Research

NASA’s new satellite, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite, has produced striking maps of Earth’s global sea levels, offering insights into the planet’s water bodies and helping advance climate change research. (Photo: news.yahoo.com)

NASA’s SWOT Satellite Revolutionizes Climate Research with Detailed Global Sea Level Maps

According to source, NASA has revealed striking maps of Earth’s global sea levels, showcasing nearly all of the planet’s water bodies, including oceans, freshwater lakes and rivers through data from NASA’s new satellite, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite. Launched on December 16, 2022, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket NASA’s new satellite, the SWOT satellite is part of a collaborative mission between NASA and the French Space Agency (CNES). It orbits Earth at an altitude of approximately 533 miles (857 kilometers) and is designed to measure water heights over 90% of the planet’s surface every 21 days, offering valuable insights into global water level changes with the help of NASA’s new satellite.

The data transmitted by NASA’s new satellite, SWOT, plays a vital role in scientific research on climate change effects and aids in global preparedness for a warming world. The animation unveiled by NASA generated using NASA’s new satellite, SWOT’s Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn) instrument, provides a visual representation of varying sea surface heights worldwide.

It highlights regions with water levels higher than the global mean (represented in red and orange) and those with lower-than-average levels (represented in blue), as collected by NASA’s new satellite, SWOT.

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NASA’s New Satellite Sheds Light on Ocean Currents and Climate Impact

NASA officials have emphasized that differences in sea surface heights as observed by NASA’s new satellite, can indicate ocean currents, such as the Gulf Stream off the U.S. East Coast and the Kuroshio current off the east coast of Japan.

Furthermore sea surface height is a crucial indicator of areas with relatively warmer water, like the eastern part of the equatorial Pacific Ocean during an El Niño event, where warmer water expands. The detailed and comprehensive data collected by NASA’s new satellite, SWOT, contributes significantly to advancing our understanding of Earth’s water distribution and behavior.

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