NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The Airborne Surface Water and Ocean Topography, or AirSWOT, project uses an interferometer mounted in a NASA King Air B200. The Ka-band radar interferometer will help the science team determine the kinetic energy of the ocean circulation and how the ocean uptake of heat and carbon is being transferred into the atmosphere to verify its effects on climate change. The sensor is also collecting hydrology measurements of the storage changes in terrestrial surface water bodies, soil content depending on seasonal changes, and river discharges into large bodies of water like the ocean.