LOS ANGELES — Before the sun rises on Thursday, a rocket carrying the Surface Water and Ocean Topography satellite will blast off from Vandenberg Space Force Base north of Santa Barbara.
When SWOT reaches its destination 553 miles above Earth’s surface, a new era in the study of climate change will begin.
The satellite will be the first to survey almost all the world’s surface water, allowing researchers to consistently track the volume and movement of every ocean, river, lake and stream on the planet.
