nasa t1_ivkws32 wrote
Reply to comment by Zaartan in AskScience AMA Series: We're NASA experts working on SWOT - an upcoming mission that will observe nearly all water on Earth's surface. Ask us anything! by AskScienceModerator
The radar signal will not penetrate through the water, so we won't be measuring how deep the water is, just how high the surface of the water is.
Knowing the shape of the land underneath the water (the bathymetry) still remains a mystery except for some pristine water bodies which are very clear and for which the bottom can be detected with other satellites like the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat-2). (CD)
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