From TOPEX/Poseidon to Jason-2/OSTM in the Amazon basin

A major interest of radar altimetry over rivers is to monitor water resources and associated risk in basins where there is little or no conventional in situ data. The objective of the present study is to calibrate altimetry data in a place where conventional data are available, and use the results t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAdvances in space research Vol. 51; no. 8; pp. 1542 - 1550
Main Authors Seyler, Frédérique, Calmant, Stéphane, Silva, Joecila Santos da, Moreira, Daniel Medeiros, Mercier, Franck, Shum, C.K.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier Ltd 15.04.2013
Elsevier
Subjects
Altimeter calibration
Amazon basin
Hydrology
Jason-2
Hydrology
Altimeter calibration
Jason-2
Amazon basin
SYSTEM
GAVDOS FACILITY
VALIDATION
WATER LEVELS
GREAT-LAKES
JASON-1
RADAR ALTIMETERS
ABSOLUTE CALIBRATION
WETLANDS
RIVERS
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Summary:A major interest of radar altimetry over rivers is to monitor water resources and associated risk in basins where there is little or no conventional in situ data. The objective of the present study is to calibrate altimetry data in a place where conventional data are available, and use the results to estimate the potential error committed in the estimation of water levels in an ungauged or poorly gauged basin. The virtual stations extracted with Jason-2 in this study concern a very broad sample of river channel width and complexity. Minimum channel width has been estimated at 400m. Unlike TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P), Jason-2 seems to have the capability to distinguish the river bed from its floodplain. The quality of the results obtained with Jason-2 is incomparably better than that obtained with T/P. Despite the fact that no absolute calibration has been assessed for river in this study, the bias calculated converge around 0, 35m, which could be then the error estimated on the water stage derived from Jason-2 ranges, when no other validation is available. ICE3 algorithm seems to be performing as well as ICE1, and further research is needed to design retracking algorithm specifically for continental water.
ISSN:0273-1177
1879-1948
DOI:10.1016/j.asr.2012.11.002