Top Posts
African climate change projects secure major funding
Former French PM urges China, Europe to unite...
NDDC, FOSDO launch tree-planting campaign to address climate...
WHO unveils an ambitious blueprint for action on...
New report shows nearly 900 million poor people...
Lagos to Host 2025 International Climate Change Summit
New study shows overheating world will add 57...
NAICOM urges W’African insurers to invest in climate...
Climate change: Nigeria, development partners launch Net Zero...
Nigeria launches net zero project to fight climate...
EcoNai Newsroom
  • Newsround
  • Nigeria
  • Africa
  • World
World

US, France partner to launch satellite to map world’s oceans, rivers, lakes

by Segun Ogunlade December 17, 2022
written by Segun Ogunlade December 17, 2022
718

A US-French satellite that will map almost all of the world’s oceans, lakes and rivers to help track the impacts of rising sea levels, droughts and erosion brought on by climate change has rocketed into orbit.

The pre-dawn launch on Friday on board a SpaceX rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California capped a highly successful year for NASA.

Scientists said the satellite named Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) is an important innovation at a time when climate change worsens droughts, flooding and coastal erosion. Cheers erupted at control centres in California and France as the spacecraft started its mission.

“It is a pivotal moment, and I’m very excited about it,” said NASA programme manager Nadya Vinogradova-Shiffer. “We’re going to see Earth’s water like we’ve never before.”

The satellite which is about the size of an SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle), will not only measure the height of water on more than 90 per cent of Earth’s surface, allowing scientists to track flow and identify potential high-risk areas but it will also survey millions of lakes as well as 2.1 million kilometres (1.3 million miles) of rivers, from headwater to mouth.

Read also: The Globe joins Covering Climate Now, a global media collaboration

The satellite will shoot radar pulses at Earth, with the signals bouncing back to be received by a pair of antennas, one on each end of a 10-metre (33-foot) boom.

It should be able to make out currents and eddies less than 21km (13 miles) across, as well as areas of the ocean where water masses of varying temperatures merge.

NASA’s current fleet of nearly 30 Earth-observing satellites cannot make out such slight features. Although these older satellites can map the extent of lakes and rivers, their measurements are not as detailed, said the University of North Carolina’s Tamlin Pavelsky, who is part of the mission.

Perhaps most importantly, the satellite will reveal the location and speed of rising sea levels and the shift of coastlines, key to saving lives and property. It will cover the globe between the Arctic and Antarctica at least once every three weeks, as it orbits more than 890km (550 miles) high. The mission is expected to last three years.

Laurie Leshin, the director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, noted that while the agency is known for its Mars rovers and space telescopes, “this is the planet we care most about.”

“We’ve got a lot of eyes on Earth”, with even more globe-surveying missions planned in the next few years, she added.

NASA and the French Space Agency collaborated on the $1.2bn SWOT project — some 20 years in the making — with the United Kingdom and Canada chipping in.

Already recycled, the first-stage booster returned to Vandenberg eight minutes after liftoff to fly again one day. When the double sonic booms sounded, “everybody jumped out of their skin, and it was exhilarating. What a morning,” said Taryn Tomlinson, an Earth science director at the Canadian Space Agency.

Story was adapted from AlJazeera.

FranceLakesOceansPartnershipSatelliteUS
0 comment 0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
admineconai

previous post
The Globe joins Covering Climate Now, a global media collaboration
next post
COP15: UN official says countries must overcome ‘trust deficit,’

Related Posts

Former French PM urges China, Europe to unite...

October 22, 2025

WHO unveils an ambitious blueprint for action on...

October 20, 2025

New report shows nearly 900 million poor people...

October 20, 2025

New study shows overheating world will add 57...

October 16, 2025

Heaviest monsoon in a decade kills 458 people...

October 9, 2025

Council releases first fully electric bin lorry

October 9, 2025

Study shows US asthma inhalers produce same emissions...

October 7, 2025

Pope Leo hits out at climate change critics

October 3, 2025

Protesters seek $5tr payment from fossil fuel companies

October 1, 2025

UN official says climate change displaces up to...

September 30, 2025

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Newsletter

Subscribe my Newsletter for new blog posts, tips & new photos. Let's stay updated!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin
  • Bloglovin
  • Vimeo

@2021 - All Right Reserved. Designed and Developed by Eco-Nai+

EcoNai Newsroom
  • Newsround
  • Nigeria
  • Africa
  • World