NASA’s SWOT Satellite Captures Kamchatka Megaquake Tsunami in Stunning Detail

The recent megaquake that struck off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula has been captured in striking detail by NASA’s SWOT satellite. Launched jointly with the French space agency CNES, the SWOT satellite is equipped with a unique radar system that can measure ocean topography and water levels across vast areas.

On July 30, at around 11:25 a.m. local time, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Kamchatka, generating a massive tsunami wave. The SWOT satellite captured the leading edge of this tsunami just 70 minutes after the quake hit. This remarkable footage has provided scientists with crucial data to improve tsunami forecast models.

The data collected by the SWOT satellite included measurements of the wave height exceeding 1.5 feet (45 centimeters), as well as a detailed look at the shape and direction of travel of the leading edge of the tsunami. These observations have been plotted against a forecast model produced by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Center for Tsunami Research.

Comparing these observations to the model helps forecasters validate their predictions, ensuring that they can provide accurate early warnings to coastal communities in the event of a tsunami. As Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, NASA Earth lead and SWOT program scientist at NASA Headquarters, explained, “The power of SWOT’s broad, paintbrush-like strokes over the ocean is in providing crucial real-world validation, unlocking new physics, and marking a leap towards more accurate early warnings and safer futures.”

Ben Hamlington, an oceanographer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, highlighted the significance of the 1.5-foot-tall wave captured by SWOT, saying that what might seem like a small wave in open waters can become a massive 30-foot wave in shallower coastal areas.

The data collected by the SWOT satellite has already helped scientists improve their tsunami forecast models at NOAA’s Center for Tsunami Research. This is a crucial step towards enhancing operational tsunami forecasts and saving lives. As Josh Willis, a JPL oceanographer, noted, “The satellite observations help researchers to better reverse engineer the cause of a tsunami, and in this case, they also showed us that NOAA’s tsunami forecast was right on the money.”

This breakthrough has significant implications for coastal communities around the world. By providing more accurate early warnings, SWOT data can save lives and reduce damage caused by tsunamis. As Vasily Titov, the center’s chief scientist in Seattle, emphasized, “It suggests SWOT data could significantly enhance operational tsunami forecasts — a capability sought since the 2004 Sumatra event.” The devastating tsunami generated by that quake killed thousands of people and caused widespread destruction in Indonesia.

The SWOT satellite was jointly developed by NASA and CNES, with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the UK Space Agency. NASA JPL leads the U.S. component of the project, providing a Ka-band radar interferometer instrument, a GPS science receiver, a laser retroreflector, a two-beam microwave radiometer, and NASA instrument operations.

This groundbreaking technology has opened up new possibilities for scientists to better understand ocean dynamics and improve tsunami forecasting models. As SWOT continues to capture stunning images of our oceans, it will undoubtedly play a vital role in enhancing operational tsunami forecasts and saving lives around the world.