Science, Space and Technology News 2024
Designed to make the first-ever global survey of Earth’s surface water, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography, or SWOT, satellite will collect detailed measurements of how water bodies on Earth change over time. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltechand CNES, is revolutionizing flood prediction by providing comprehensive data on water heights across nearly all water surfaces on Earth.
Flooding on the Souris River inundated this community in North Dakota in 2011. The U.S.-French SWOT satellite is giving scientists and water managers a new tool to look at floods in 3D, information that can improve predictions of where and how often flooding will occur. Credit: North Dakota State Water Commission
Flooding from monsoon rains covers a wide region of northeast Bangladesh in this October 8, 2023, image showing data from SWOT. The U.S.-French satellite is the first to provide timely, precise water surface elevation information over entire regions at high resolution, enabling improved flooding forecasts. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UNC-Chapel Hill/Google EarthOne effort to incorporate SWOT data into flood models is led by J.
SWOT will also help scientists and water managers quantify how much water lakes and reservoirs can store. While there are about 90,000 relatively large U.S. reservoirs, only a few thousand of them have water-level data that’s incorporated into the National Water Model. This limits scientists’ ability to know how reservoir levels relate to surrounding land elevations and potential flooding. SWOT is measuring tens of thousands of U.S. reservoirs, along with nearly all natural U.S.
Tamlin Pavelsky, NASA’s SWOT freshwater science lead and a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says SWOT can help address the growing threat of flooding from extreme storms fueled by climate change. “Think about Houston and Hurricane Harvey in 2017,” he said. “It’s very unlikely we would have seen 60 inches of rain from one storm without climate change.
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Scientists are mapping Earth's rivers from space before climate change devastates our planetSharmila Kuthunur is a Seattle-based science journalist covering astronomy, astrophysics and space exploration. Follow her on X skuthunur.
Read more »
Astronaut born in Wheat Ridge reflects on spending time in space aboard the International Space StationWanya Reese joined the Denver 7 team as a Weekend Morning Anchor and Reporter in July of 2023.
Read more »
Space Force Obtains Three 'Space Cowboys'Science and Technology News and Videos
Read more »
New Texas space commissioner discusses state's booming space bizBrad Morrison, a Boerne businessman, is one of nine members of the new Texas Space Commission. The Air Force vet says space is critical to national security.
Read more »
Space Trash Signs project creates debris 'constellations' to highlight space junk problem (video)Tereza is a London-based science and technology journalist, aspiring fiction writer and amateur gymnast. Originally from Prague, the Czech Republic, she spent the first seven years of her career working as a reporter, script-writer and presenter for various TV programmes of the Czech Public Service Television.
Read more »
Space Force training HQ gets official nod to come to Space CoastThe decision has been a year in the making, but the Space Coast will officially become the home of STARCOM, the training headquarters for Space Force.
Read more »