Blue Dot

Blue Dot: Monitoring surface water from space: Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission

By Dave Schlom,

Published January 26, 2024 at 1:00 PM PST

Two scientists join host Dave Schlom to discuss the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission which launched in December of 2022.

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory oceanographer Ben Hamlington teams up with University of North Carolina hydrologist Tamlin Pavelsky to explain how the satellite is revolutionizing our understanding of Earth's precious surface waters from the oceans to terrestrial lakes, rivers and streams.

It's a fascinating look at surveying all of the blue on our dot!

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Dave Schlom

Dave Schlom is the longtime host and creator of Blue Dot. From surfing to Voyager in interstellar space, rock guitar to orcas in our imperiled oceans, the topics on Blue Dot are as varied as the host’s interests and connections -- which are pretty limitless! An internationally respected space history journalist, Dave is also deeply fascinated by all aspects of the grand workings of nature’s awesome machinery on scales ranging from galactic to subatomic. And topics take in all aspects of the arts and sciences.

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Matt Fidler

Matt Fidler is a producer and sound designer with over 15 years’ of experience producing nationally distributed public radio programs. He has worked for shows such as Freakonomics Radio, Selected Shorts, Studio 360, The New Yorker Radio Hour and The Takeaway. In 2017, Matt launched the language podcast Very Bad Words, hitting the #28 spot in the iTunes podcast charts.

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