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Estimation of Discharge From Braided Glacial Rivers Using ERS 1 Synthetic Aperture Radar: First Results
Author(s) -
Smith L. C.,
Isacks B. L.,
Forster R. R.,
Bloom A. L.,
Preuss I.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/95wr00145
Subject(s) - rating curve , synthetic aperture radar , streamflow , satellite , interferometric synthetic aperture radar , hydrology (agriculture) , geology , discharge , satellite imagery , water discharge , water level , remote sensing , radar , environmental science , geomorphology , geography , sediment , drainage basin , geotechnical engineering , engineering , telecommunications , computer science , cartography , aerospace engineering
Using multitemporal ERS 1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite imagery and simultaneous ground measurements of streamflow, a strong correlation ( R 2 = 0.89) was found between water surface area and discharge for a braided glacial river in British Columbia, Canada. Satellite‐derived effective width ( W e ) was found to vary with discharge ( Q ) as W e = 27.5 Q 0.42 , where W e is defined as the total water surface area within a 10 km × 3 km control section, divided by the section length. This “area/discharge rating curve” yields instantaneous discharge estimates with a mean error of ±275 m 3 /s for ground‐measured flows that ranged from 242 to 6350 m 3 /s.