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An international mission undertaken jointly by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the French space agency, Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), will help improve forecasts of where and when flooding will occur in rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, according to a blog on the US space agency’s website.
“Rivers, lakes, and reservoirs are like our planet’s arteries, carrying lifesustaining water in interconnected networks. When earth’s water cycle runs too fast, flooding can result, threatening lives and property. That risk is increasing as climate change alters precipitation patterns and more people are living in flood-prone areas worldwide,” it explained. According to the blog, freshwater data from the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite will add a new tool for scientists and water managers who use many types of data to predict flooding.
The observatory is measuring the height of nearly all water surfaces on earth. SWOT was designed to measure every major river wider than about 300 feet (100 meters), and preliminary results suggest it may be able to observe much smaller rivers, it added.
It will also help scientists and water managers to quantify how much water lakes and reservoirs can store. In the US, there are about 90,000 relatively large, where only a few thousand have water-level data is incorporated into the National Water Model. This limits scientists’ ability to know how reservoir levels relate to surrounding land elevations and potential flooding, said the article.
SWOT is measuring tens of thousands of US reservoirs, along with nearly all natural lakes in the country that are larger than about two football fields combined.
In Africa, South Asia, parts of South America, and the Arctic, there’s little data for lakes and rivers, the blog further said, adding that in such places, flood risk assessments often rely on rough estimates. Part of SWOT’s potential is that it will allow hydrologists to fill these gaps, providing information on where water is stored on landscapes and how much is flowing through rivers, shared the article.
