A satellite has tracked a tsunami in greater detail than ever before, which could help improve models of these giant waves and allow for better prediction and warning systems.

Launched in 2022 by NASA and the French space agency Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite was designed to monitor the movement of the world's waters based on changes in surface height. But after a few years of capturing data on small currents, SWOT fluked a major event.

On 29 July 2025, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck the Kuril-Kamchatka subduction zone, off the southeastern coast of Russia. That sent a tsunami racing through the Pacific Ocean – just as SWOT happened to pass overhead.

Using data from the satellite, as well as three buoys floatin

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