LOS ANGELES, Dec 16 (Reuters) - A SpaceX rocket was due for launch from California early on Friday carrying a U.S.-French satellite designed to conduct the first global survey of Earth's surface waters, shedding new light on the mechanics and consequences of climate change.Understanding the mechanism by which that happens will help answer a pivotal question: What is the tipping point at which oceans start releasing, rather than absorbing, large amounts of heat back to the atmosphere, thus intensifying global warming?Freshwater bodies are another key focus of SWOT, equipped to observe the entire length of nearly all rivers wider than 330 feet (100 meters), as well as more than 1 million lakes and reservoirs larger than a few New York City blocks.SWOT's main radar instrument operates at the so-called Ka-band frequency of the microwave spectrum, allowing its scans to penetrate cloud cover and darkness over wide swaths of Earth's surface.Previous studies of water bodies relied on data taken at specific points, such as from river or ocean gauges, or from satellites that could only track measurements along a one-dimensional line, requiring scientists to fill in the data gaps through extrapolation."