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Contribution of the TOPEX NASA Radar Altimeter to the global monitoring of large rivers and wetlands
Author(s) -
Birkett Charon M.
Publication year - 1998
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 - 10.1029/98wr00124
Subject(s) - altimeter , wetland , remote sensing , radar , environmental science , satellite , radar altimeter , meteorology , geology , geography , computer science , ecology , aerospace engineering , engineering , biology , telecommunications
For certain major rivers and wetlands, hydrological information can often be difficult to obtain due to the inaccessibility of the region, the sparse distribution of gauge stations, or the slow dissemination of data. Satellite radar altimeters have the potential to monitor height variations over inland waters. Here, it is shown that the NASA radar altimeter (NRA), currently operating on board the TOPEX/POSEIDON satellite, can successfully track both large wetlands and rivers of >1 km width. The coverage, performance, and limitations of the NRA altimeter are discussed with relevance to these regions, and the merits of utilizing the geophysical data records (GDRs) and the sensor data records (SDRs) are explored. Time series of relative water level variations, for the first ∼3.7 years of the mission, have been obtained for a selection of the world's largest rivers, and for major wetlands of international importance. Validation shows the results can be accurate to ∼11 cm rms, offering the potential to observe these regions as part of a long‐term hydrological monitoring program.