Flood Monitoring and Hydrologic Studies Using Retracked Satellite Radar Altimetry
Abstract
Nadir, pulse-limited radar altimetry measurements have been used to monitor large surface-water bodies. In spite of progress, there is a need for a robust and automated procedure, which allows classification and stage measurements in small water bodies, which lying along the orbital path, using multiple radar altimeter measurements. Here we used an algorithm, which is mainly based on radar scatter waveform response and statistical analysis of mean and standard deviation of the resulting water level change to classify surface- waters from other land covers. We tested the algorithm using 10-Hz retracked radar altimetry measurements from TOPEX over regions including the Amazon River basin, the Prairie Pothole Region in North America, and south-western Taiwan. The estimated water-level stages are compared with data from available stage measurements, and altimetry data available from public data centers. We also applied the algorithm to study the 1997 hundred-year Red River flood, and the June 2008 fifty-year flood in the Upper Midwest of the United States. For the1997 flood, it is found that the flooded regions detected by altimetry include the Red River Basin in North Dakota and Minnesota, the Missouri River Basin in North Dakota and South Dakota, the Minnesota River Basin and the Mississippi River Basin in Minnesota and Iowa. The extent of the flood agrees with the USGS record. The observed water height in Grand Forks reaches 6 meters above the normal. The ENVISAT altimetry is shown to be able to track the ebb and recede of the 2008 Iowa City flood. The results of this study could be applied to provide improved accuracy and potentially automated classification of nadir radar altimetry observed small inland water body measurements for hydrologic studies and for flood monitoring.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2008
- Bibcode:
- 2008AGUFM.H43G1110Z
- Keywords:
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- 1800 HYDROLOGY;
- 1821 Floods;
- 1847 Modeling;
- 1855 Remote sensing (1640)