In a surface code architecture, what is the purpose of performing syndrome measurements on ancillary qubits?

In a surface code architecture, the primary purpose of performing syndrome measurements on ancillary qubits is to detect and locate errors in the quantum information without destroying the data qubits themselves. Quantum information is fragile and prone to bit-flip errors, where a zero becomes a one, or phase-flip errors, where the phase of the qubit state is altered. Because measuring a data qubit directly would collapse its quantum state and destroy the stored in....