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NASA and the French space agency CNES Plans to launch a satellite with Ka-band sensors end of 2022 as part of a joint mission called Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT), with the help of Canadian and UK space agencies. The SUV-size satellite will observe the planet’s lakes, rivers and reservoirs during its 21-day repeated orbit with the oceans.
“We will have access to global information about surface waters in a way we have never had before,” he says. Cedric David, a hydrologist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Scientists will be able to observe changes in the amount of water stored on the Earth’s surface and estimate how much water flows through river systems.
Researchers like Kitambo say the SWOT’s observations will improve the accuracy and quality of their numerical models that simulate and predict how water swells, swells, and flows over time. Specifically, scientists can use SWOT data to calculate the daily discharge from the Congo’s main tributaries and the rainforest in the center of the basin, or the volume of water flowing through the channels. This will help them understand the evolution of seasonal floods that affect everything from fishing and agriculture to wildlife habitats and human safety.
David points out that, along with other similar projects, the new mission will monitor nearly every part of Earth’s water cycle, including the oceans, soil moisture, groundwater, ice sheets, and now surface water. “Many of us call this the golden age of water cycle observations from space,” he says.
Maria Gallucci is an energy and environmental reporter based in Brooklyn, New York.
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