Next-Gen Water Satellite Maps Earth’s Seafloor from Space

Quick Summary

• NASA and CNES have developed the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite, launched in December 2022, which is delivering highly detailed data about Earth’s ocean floor.
• SWOT’s findings are based on measuring minute gravitational changes caused by underwater features like seamounts and abyssal hills. This helps predict seafloor structures.
• Researchers used one year of SWOT data to map features such as underwater mountains,increasing known seamount counts from 44,000 to a potential 100,000 globally. Abyssal hills were also captured with unexpected precision.
• These maps contribute to enhanced navigation for ships, undersea cable placement, rare-mineral mining prospects, hazard detection systems, seabed warfare operations and tracking plate tectonics history. These features deeply influence sea currents and nutrient movement that sustain marine ecosystems.
• The effort complements a global initiative to fully map the seafloor using ship-based sonar by 2030; however full mapping might not be achieved on time but SWOT fills important gaps.
• SWOT was jointly contributed by NASA (Ka-band radar interferometer instrument) along with CNES supported partially Canadian Space Agency UK besides specific payload contributors

Watch more [Animation.]https://Nasa link