SWOT Mission

Objectives and Applications

3 year nominal mission. Characterize ocean mesoscale and sub-mesoscale circulation at spatial resolutions = 15 km and inventory all terrestrial water bodies with surface area > (250 m)2 and rivers with width > 100 m

Mission Summary

Full Name
Surface Water Ocean Topography
Mission Status
Operational (nominal)
Mission Agencies
Launch Date
16 Dec 2022
Mission Links
EOL Date
Nov 2025
EO Portal Info

Orbit Details

Orbit Type
Inclined, non-sun-synchronous
Orbit Period
102.8 minutes
Orbit Sense
N/A
Orbit Inclination
77.6 deg
Orbit Altitude
891 km
Orbit Longitude
Orbit LST
Repeat Cycle
21 days
NORAD Catalog #
International Designator

Mission Instruments

AMR-S - AMR-S Two-Beam Microwave Radiometer
DGXX-S - Doppler Orbitography and Radio-positioning Integrated by Satellite-New Generation XX-S
GPSP - Global Positioning System Payload
Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn) - Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn)
LRA - Laser Retroreflector Array
POSEIDON-3C Altimeter - Positioning Ocean Solid Earth Ice Dynamics Orbiting Navigator (Single frequency solid state radar altimeter)

Mission Measurements

CategoryParameterInstrument(s)
AtmosphereAtmospheric Humidity Fields AMR-S
Gravity and Magnetic FieldsGravity, Magnetic and Geodynamic measurements GPSP, LRA, POSEIDON-3C Altimeter
LandLandscape topography Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn), POSEIDON-3C Altimeter
Inland Waters Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn)
OceanOcean topography/currents AMR-S, GPSP, Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn), LRA, POSEIDON-3C Altimeter
Ocean surface winds POSEIDON-3C Altimeter
Ocean wave height and spectrum POSEIDON-3C Altimeter

OpenSearch Datasets

Selected IDN OpenSearch Results (search all 88 )
The L2 sea surface height data product is distributed in one netCDF-4 file per pass (half-orbit) covering the full KaRIn swath width, which spans 10-60km on each side of the nadir track. Sea surface height, sea surface height anomaly, wind speed, significant waveheight, and related parameters are provided on a geographically fixed, swath-aligned 2x2 km2 grid (Basic, Expert, Windwave). The sea surface height data are also provided on a finer 250x250 m2 "native" grid with minimal smoothing applied (Unsmoothed).
Please note that this collection contains SWOT Version C science data products.
This collection is a sub-collection of its parent: https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/SWOT_L2_LR_SSH_2.0 It provides the "Basic" file from each L2 SSH product, which contains a limited set of variables and is aimed at the general user.">SWOT Level 2 KaRIn Low Rate Sea Surface Height Data Product - Basic, Version C
The L2 sea surface height data product is distributed in one netCDF-4 file per pass (half-orbit) covering the full KaRIn swath width, which spans 10-60km on each side of the nadir track. Sea surface height, sea surface height anomaly, wind speed, significant waveheight, and related parameters are provided on a geographically fixed, swath-aligned 2x2 km2 grid (Basic, Expert, Windwave). The sea surface height data are also provided on a finer 250x250 m2 "native" grid with minimal smoothing applied (Unsmoothed).
This collection is a sub-collection of its parent: https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/SWOT_L2_LR_SSH_D It provides the "Basic" file from each L2 SSH product, which contains a limited set of variables and is aimed at the general user.">SWOT Level 2 KaRIn Low Rate Sea Surface Height Data Product - Basic, Version D
The L2 sea surface height data product is distributed in one netCDF-4 file per pass (half-orbit) covering the full KaRIn swath width, which spans 10-60km on each side of the nadir track. Sea surface height, sea surface height anomaly, wind speed, significant waveheight, and related parameters are provided on a geographically fixed, swath-aligned 2x2 km2 grid (Basic, Expert, Windwave). The sea surface height data are also provided on a finer 250x250 m2 "native" grid with minimal smoothing applied (Unsmoothed).
Please note that this collection contains SWOT Version C science data products.
This collection is a sub-collection of its parent: https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/SWOT_L2_LR_SSH_2.0 It provides the "Expert" file from each L2 SSH product, which contain all related variables and is intended for expert users.">SWOT Level 2 KaRIn Low Rate Sea Surface Height Data Product - Expert, Version C
The L2 sea surface height data product is distributed in one netCDF-4 file per pass (half-orbit) covering the full KaRIn swath width, which spans 10-60km on each side of the nadir track. Sea surface height, sea surface height anomaly, wind speed, significant waveheight, and related parameters are provided on a geographically fixed, swath-aligned 2x2 km2 grid (Basic, Expert, Windwave). The sea surface height data are also provided on a finer 250x250 m2 "native" grid with minimal smoothing applied (Unsmoothed).
This collection is a sub-collection of its parent: https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/SWOT_L2_LR_SSH_D It provides the "Expert" file from each L2 SSH product, which contain all related variables and is intended for expert users.">SWOT Level 2 KaRIn Low Rate Sea Surface Height Data Product - Expert, Version D