SWOT Mission Unlocks a New View of Our Waterways

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SWOT Mission Unlocks a New View of Our Waterways Earth (ESD) Earth Explore Explore Earth Science Agriculture Air Quality Climate Change Freshwater Life on Earth Severe Storms Snow and Ice The Global Ocean Science at Work Earth Science at Work Technology and Innovation Powering Business Multimedia Image Collections Videos Data For Researchers About Us Explore how rivers move, change, and sustain life across the planet.

Using data from the SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography) mission, jointly developed by the NASA/JPL and the Centre National d’Études Spatiales with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency and the United Kingdom Space Agency, scientists can now measure rivers continuously and across the entire globe for the first time in human history.

From the Mississippi River to the Amazon, these observations reveal how rivers flow, how they change over time, and how they support ecosystems, economies, and communities worldwide like never before.

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Details Last Updated Mar 23, 2026 Editor Earth Science Division Editorial Team Related Terms Earth Surface Water SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography) Water on Earth

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