SWOT Applications Engagement: Development, Progress, and Growth

The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite mission is an international collaboration between NASA and the French space agency (CNES), with contributions from Canada and the UK space agencies. SWOT, scheduled to launch in 2021, will unite the oceanography and hydrology science communities in a mission to better understand the world’s oceans and its terrestrial surface waters. Besides addressing primary science questions, SWOT data and observational products will provide valuable information to a broad community of users in operational and decision-making domains. A robust program to promote applied science objectives and to address societal issues and needs has been developed by NASA’s Applied Sciences Program and the SWOT Project. This program includes engaging future SWOT operational and applied science data users—termed, ‘Early Adopters’—who are focused on decision support and operational activities in areas related to water resources management for energy, agriculture, infrastructure, and disasters, among others. Many of the SWOT Early Adopters are beginning their second year of work on proposed projects that will proactively assess the utility of future SWOT data to address the needs of their respective agencies. With less than two years to launch the SWOT Applications Working Group (SAWG) is working with the Early Adopters, to provide hands-on training, address any hurdles and needs they face, and identify clear pathways to accelerate successful use of SWOT data after launch. This paper will discuss the development and objectives of the SWOT Early Adopter program, and plans for the effort through and after launch.