Global Observations of Fine-Scale Ocean Surface Topography With the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) Mission

The future international Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) Mission, planned for launch in 2021, will make high-resolution 2D observations of sea-surface height using SAR radar interferometric techniques. SWOT will map the global and coastal oceans up to 77.6° latitude every 21 days over a swath of 120 km (20 km nadir gap). Today’s 2D mapped altimeter data can resolve ocean scales of 150 km wavelength whereas the SWOT measurement will extend our 2D observations down to 15-30 km, depending on sea state. SWOT will offer new opportunities to observe the oceanic dynamic processes at these scales, that are important in the generation and dissipation of kinetic energy in the ocean, and act as one of the main…

• NA
  National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• CI
  California Institute of Technology
• AN
  Agence Nationale de la Recherche

  Awards: ANR-17, ANR-17-CE01-0006, 17-CE01-0006-01, ANR-17-CE01-0006-01
• CN
  Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales
• CN
  Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
• JP
  Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• ER
  European Regional Development Fund