SWOT scientific orbit : animated ground tracks on a globe

Swot orbit is a non sun-synchronous 21-days orbit, at 890.6 km with an inclination of 77.6°.

The Swot satellite sampling provides high spatial resolution with the interferometric altimeter (~1.0 km gridding over oceans; 5m x 10-70 m over terrestrial water surfaces) in swaths that are ~120 km wide, with a nadir "gap" of approximately 20 km.
An additional conventional altimeter provides data at the nadir location. The Swot cycle (repeat period) is ~ 21 days. In the mid-latitude regions, one place will be observed 2-4 times during each 21-day period. In the high latitude regions, as the satellite approaches its inclination latitude (77.6°), the observations are more frequent (max 7 times in a 21-day cycle).

This animation shows simulated along-track geostrophic velocities (in m/s) for each 292 passes.