AirSWOT measurements of river water surface elevation and slope: Tanana River, AK

Elizabeth H. Altenau; Tamlin M. Pavelsky; Delwyn Moller; Christine Lion; Lincoln H. Pitcher; George H. Allen; Paul D. Bates; Stéphane Calmant; Michael Durand; Laurence C. Smith

doi:10.1002/2016GL071577

AirSWOT measurements of river water surface elevation and slope: Tanana River, AK

Elizabeth H. Altenau^*, Tamlin M. Pavelsky, Delwyn Moller, Christine Lion, Lincoln H. Pitcher, George H. Allen, Paul D. Bates, Stéphane Calmant, Michael Durand, Laurence C. Smith

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Fluctuations in water surface elevation (WSE) along rivers have important implications for water resources, flood hazards, and biogeochemical cycling. However, current in situ and remote sensing methods exhibit key limitations in characterizing spatiotemporal hydraulics of many of the world's river systems. Here, we analyze new measurements of river WSE and slope from AirSWOT, an airborne analogue to the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission aimed at addressing limitations in current remotely sensed observations of surface water. To evaluate its capabilities, we compare AirSWOT WSEs and slopes to in situ measurements along the Tanana River, Alaska. RMSE is 9.0 cm for WSEs averaged over 1 km² areas and 1.0 cm/km for slopes along 10 km reaches. Results indicate that AirSWOT can accurately reproduce the spatial variations in slope critical for characterizing reach-scale hydraulics. AirSWOT's high-precision measurements are valuable for hydrologic analysis, flood modeling studies, and for validating future SWOT measurements.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	181-189
Number of pages	8
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	44
Issue number	1
Early online date	5 Jan 2017
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL071577
Publication status	Published - 28 Jan 2017

Keywords

AirSWOT
Remote sensing
River channels
River hydrology

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title = "AirSWOT measurements of river water surface elevation and slope: Tanana River, AK",

abstract = "Fluctuations in water surface elevation (WSE) along rivers have important implications for water resources, flood hazards, and biogeochemical cycling. However, current in situ and remote sensing methods exhibit key limitations in characterizing spatiotemporal hydraulics of many of the world's river systems. Here, we analyze new measurements of river WSE and slope from AirSWOT, an airborne analogue to the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission aimed at addressing limitations in current remotely sensed observations of surface water. To evaluate its capabilities, we compare AirSWOT WSEs and slopes to in situ measurements along the Tanana River, Alaska. RMSE is 9.0 cm for WSEs averaged over 1 km2 areas and 1.0 cm/km for slopes along 10 km reaches. Results indicate that AirSWOT can accurately reproduce the spatial variations in slope critical for characterizing reach-scale hydraulics. AirSWOT's high-precision measurements are valuable for hydrologic analysis, flood modeling studies, and for validating future SWOT measurements.",

keywords = "AirSWOT, Remote sensing, River channels, River hydrology",

author = "Altenau, {Elizabeth H.} and Pavelsky, {Tamlin M.} and Delwyn Moller and Christine Lion and Pitcher, {Lincoln H.} and Allen, {George H.} and Bates, {Paul D.} and St{\'e}phane Calmant and Michael Durand and Smith, {Laurence C.}",

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T2 - Tanana River, AK

AU - Altenau, Elizabeth H.

AU - Pavelsky, Tamlin M.

AU - Moller, Delwyn

AU - Lion, Christine

AU - Pitcher, Lincoln H.

AU - Allen, George H.

AU - Bates, Paul D.

AU - Calmant, Stéphane

AU - Durand, Michael

AU - Smith, Laurence C.

PY - 2017/1/28

Y1 - 2017/1/28

N2 - Fluctuations in water surface elevation (WSE) along rivers have important implications for water resources, flood hazards, and biogeochemical cycling. However, current in situ and remote sensing methods exhibit key limitations in characterizing spatiotemporal hydraulics of many of the world's river systems. Here, we analyze new measurements of river WSE and slope from AirSWOT, an airborne analogue to the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission aimed at addressing limitations in current remotely sensed observations of surface water. To evaluate its capabilities, we compare AirSWOT WSEs and slopes to in situ measurements along the Tanana River, Alaska. RMSE is 9.0 cm for WSEs averaged over 1 km2 areas and 1.0 cm/km for slopes along 10 km reaches. Results indicate that AirSWOT can accurately reproduce the spatial variations in slope critical for characterizing reach-scale hydraulics. AirSWOT's high-precision measurements are valuable for hydrologic analysis, flood modeling studies, and for validating future SWOT measurements.

AB - Fluctuations in water surface elevation (WSE) along rivers have important implications for water resources, flood hazards, and biogeochemical cycling. However, current in situ and remote sensing methods exhibit key limitations in characterizing spatiotemporal hydraulics of many of the world's river systems. Here, we analyze new measurements of river WSE and slope from AirSWOT, an airborne analogue to the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission aimed at addressing limitations in current remotely sensed observations of surface water. To evaluate its capabilities, we compare AirSWOT WSEs and slopes to in situ measurements along the Tanana River, Alaska. RMSE is 9.0 cm for WSEs averaged over 1 km2 areas and 1.0 cm/km for slopes along 10 km reaches. Results indicate that AirSWOT can accurately reproduce the spatial variations in slope critical for characterizing reach-scale hydraulics. AirSWOT's high-precision measurements are valuable for hydrologic analysis, flood modeling studies, and for validating future SWOT measurements.

KW - AirSWOT

KW - Remote sensing

KW - River channels

KW - River hydrology

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DO - 10.1002/2016GL071577

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EP - 189

JO - Geophysical Research Letters

JF - Geophysical Research Letters

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AirSWOT measurements of river water surface elevation and slope: Tanana River, AK

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