In July 2025, an earthquake from Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula set off a tsunami across the Pacific Ocean, and the NASA SWOT satellite recorded this event. Researchers are now referring to this recording from the satellite as the first high-resolution space-based track of a major subduction zone tsunami.
A Recording From NASA’s SWOT Satellite Might Just Change The Way We Understand Tsunamis
The NASA SWOT satellite was launched into space in 2022, and it was designed to measure the height of the ocean surface. This satellite, the Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT), was able to record intricate patterns of waves spreading, interacting, and scattering across the water surface.
Researchers who noticed the recording from the NASA SWOT satellite paired it with data from surrounding DART (Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis) buoys. After observing the recording from the NASA SWOT, Angel Ruiz-Angulo of the University of Iceland emphasises that the data helps provide deeper insight into the tsunami.
Ruiz-Angulo says, “Before, with DARTs we could only see the tsunami at specific points in the vastness of the ocean.” He adds that “There have been other satellites before, but they only see a thin line across a tsunami in the best-case scenario.”
Using the SWOT satellite, researchers were able to capture high-resolution data covering over 120 kilometres of the sea surface. The data collected challenge a long-standing understanding among scientists that large tsunamis are non-dispersive.
Additionally, computer simulations of dispersive tsunamis were more similar to the recordings from the NASA SWOL satellite, unlike those of non-dispersive tsunamis. This goes to prove “that we are missing something in the models we used to run,” as Ruiz-Angulo points out.
A New Approach To Understanding Tsunamis
By reviewing the recording from the NASA SWOT satellite of the tsunami from July 2025, researchers are shedding more light on the natural phenomenon. In comparison with views achievable from other satellites, the NASA SWOT satellite provides more detailed information that sheds light on the motion of the tsunami and its impact on coastlines.
Despite being developed to measure the height of the ocean surface, this satellite has provided researchers with a new approach to understanding tsunamis. In the near future, similar satellites might be launched into space with the sole purpose of helping us better understand tsunamis.
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