NASA's SWOT satellite mission highlights the importance of small-scale ocean features, like eddies, in influencing global climate. Launched in December 2022, SWOT measures water height in a detailed manner, overcoming limitations faced by previous satellites. This mission provides the first global view of submesoscale ocean dynamics, showcasing how these features transport heat, carbon, and nutrients. The findings suggest that these small yet significant processes are crucial for climate regulation and had previously gone largely unmonitored.
"These processes are crucial in regulating Earth's climate, yet they have mostly been under the radar for oceanographers - almost literally," said Elisa Carli, a research fellow in physical oceanography at the European Space Agency, in an accompanying article.
"These findings confirm that SWOT will be able to quantify kinetic-energy fluxes precisely, providing a clearer understanding of small-scale ocean dynamics that impact global climate."
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