Case study for obtaining hydrological parameters from Space borne Lidar and High resolution Remote Sensing imagery

The goal of this study was to develop a technique using Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) data and high-resolution imagery to obtain hydraulic parameters in rivers. GLAS data can provide time-series water stage information; Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) data was used to derive river water surface area and channel width; the combination of GLAS data and ETM+ data was able to derive water surface gradient. Time series GLAS data and matching Landsat ETM+ data were selected to calculate real time river gradients for individual river reaches, which can be used to derive independent estimates of river depth, velocity, and discharge. This technique produces more accurate estimates for wide rivers. Except the low temporal coverage, GLAS data and Landsat ETM+ imagery with high spatial coverage were useful in providing hydraulic parameters of rivers.