The story of water will play out in front of a new satellite mission launching tomorrow (Dec. 15).
The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite aims to map Earth‘s water in unprecedented detail to help manage climate change, and to share data openly to assist communities with managing the precious resource. It launches aboard a SpaceXFalcon 9 rocket no earlier than 6:46 a.m. EST (1146 GMT) and we will run coverage here at Space.com.
“Let me tell you, SWOT is a game changer,” Tahani Amer, a program executive in NASA’s Earth science division, said during a livestreamed Nov. 14 NASA science briefing. Amer added that SWOT will work closely with other satellites to provide valuable context about water, while other missions focus on areas like the atmosphere or ice cover.
NASA and France’s space agency (CNES) are jointly leading the multi-agency effort. One crucial application will be better understanding carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, and its role in climate change, Katherine Calvin, NASA’s chief scientist and senior climate advisor, said in a livestreamed Tuesday (Dec. 13) NASA briefing.
“Some of that carbon goes into the ocean, some goes onto land absorbed by trees, other [carbon] stays in the atmosphere,” Calvin explained. “As it [Earth] gets warmer, the oceans are absorbing a lot of that heat. So a better understanding that mixing process of the ocean will help us understand how much more heat and carbon we can uptake. That’s really important for understanding future climate change, and how activities by humans influence future climate change.”
What makes SWOT distinct from water missions before it is three things: its global reach (which will especially help with assessing freshwater resources and ocean coastlines), its ability to detect small-scale but crucial ocean drivers at a resolution of less than 100 kilometers (62 miles), and the applications and data that will flow from the mission.
SWOT has a new measurement system on board named KaRIn, which stands for Ka-band Radar Interferometer. Ka-band is a part of the microwave spectrum of light and can collect data at high resolution, thanks to twin antennas positioned roughly 33 feet (10 meters) apart — about half the length of a tennis court, NASA officials say.
KaRIn sends radar pulses from one of the antennas that reflect off the surface of the Earth, and then both antennas work together to pick up the signal. The antennas’ joint efforts allow scientists to map the surface water in two dimensions, as long as some key parameters are met.
At all times, scientists will need to know exactly how high the satellite is flying above Earth (which is an approximate 500 miles or 890 km). Precise positioning is provided through DORIS, the Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite instrument. DORIS will do its job by collecting signals from as many as 60 radio beacons on the ground.
Also on board are an X-band radio communications system to send the data back to scientists, a radiometer to correct for the delay in receiving signals from moving water, a traditional altimeter, and a thermal management system to keep the satellite stable in the extreme heat and cold of space.
An animation of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite collecting data from space. (Image credit: NASA)
From the Congo Basin to the north of Canada where Indigenous populations live, SWOT aims to provide community-focused solutions to climate change through the open data.
“SWOT is going to provide really relevant information for all these communities, all these people living in these different places and allow us to make measurements that ultimately improve their lives and livelihoods,” Benjamin Hamlington, research scientist in the sea level and ice group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a Dec. 13 briefing.
Climate change is causing different effects across the world, with some people seeing far too little water and some seeing far too much, he said. Large rivers such as the Connecticut River, which flows across several northeastern states in the U.S., will see their full water levels measured simultaneously along with any changes.
Hamlington emphasized communities won’t be on their own with the data, as expertise is available in the form of water resource managers, emergency preparedness agencies and civil engineers.
“We’re not just providing the data but encouraging people to use it, interact with it and start to implement it within their applications,” he added, with “early adopters” including communities in India and Germany who will help NASA better adjust data gathering when the mission finishes its months-long commissioning phase in 2023.
Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of “Why Am I Taller (opens in new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a book about space medicine. Follow her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
