Evaluating the potential for measuring river discharge from space

Bjerklie, David M.; Dingman, Stephen; Vörösmarty, Charles J; Bolster, Carl H.; Congalton, Russell G.

doi:10.1016/s0022-1694(03)00129-x

Cited by 301 publications

(326 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…A comparison between the discharges estimated by RCM and by the empirical equation proposed by Bjerklie et al [27] is done to assess the possible benefit provided by the RCM approach.…”

Section: Methodsologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Otherwise, a specific rating curve at the VS can be directly developed, relating altimetry water levels to observed discharge at the gauged station (e.g., [18,20]). For discharge (or flow velocity) estimation where no in situ data are available at the VS, Bjerklie et al [27] proposed different equations involving various combinations of potentially remotely observable variables. The main difficulty to apply these empirical equations is to relate the level of the water surface, provided by the satellite altimetry, to the average water depth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Birkinshaw et al [25] found the water level corresponding to zero flow, inverting the empirical formula of Bjerklie et al [27] and assigning a discharge value obtained from another measured location on the same river on the basis of the catchment areas. In order to apply these empirical formulas relating the river discharge and different hydraulic variables, the involved coefficients have to be estimated a priori on the basis of a robust database of channel hydraulic information and discharge measurements [25,27]. Alternatively, Getirana et al [22] used modeled discharge from a distributed rainfall-runoff model to estimate the river bed depth and the discharge at the same time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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River Discharge Estimation by Using Altimetry Data and Simplified Flood Routing Modeling

et al. 2013

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A methodology to estimate the discharge along rivers, even poorly gauged ones, taking advantage of water level measurements derived from satellite altimetry is proposed. The procedure is based on the application of the Rating Curve Model (RCM), a simple method allowing for the estimation of the flow conditions in a river section using only water levels recorded at that site and the discharges observed at another upstream section. The European Remote-Sensing Satellite 2, ERS-2, and the Environmental Satellite, ENVISAT, altimetry data are used to provide time series of water levels needed for the application of RCM. In order to evaluate the usefulness of the approach, the results are compared with the ones obtained by applying an empirical formula that allows discharge estimation from remotely sensed hydraulic information. To test the proposed procedure, the 236 km-reach of the Po River is investigated, for which five in situ stations and four satellite tracks are available. Results show that RCM is able to appropriately represent the discharge, and its performance is better than the empirical formula, although this latter does not require upstream hydrometric data. Given its simple formal structure, the proposed approach can be conveniently utilized in ungauged sites where only the survey of the cross-section is needed.

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“…A comparison between the discharges estimated by RCM and by the empirical equation proposed by Bjerklie et al [27] is done to assess the possible benefit provided by the RCM approach.…”

Section: Methodsologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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River Discharge Estimation by Using Altimetry Data and Simplified Flood Routing Modeling

et al. 2013

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“…Even wellmonitored countries have sparsely distributed networks, thus limiting current understanding of water losses along river courses, habitat changes, and flood risk (3,4). Satellites, in contrast, provide spatially dense coverage globally, attracting calls for a global river discharge mapping capacity from space (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10). However, previous efforts to estimate river discharge from remotely sensed observations have all required inclusion of some form of ancillary ground-based information, such as gauge measurements, bathymetric surveys, and/or calibrated hydrology models that are simply unavailable for most of the planet (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18).…”

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confidence: 99%

Toward global mapping of river discharge using satellite images and at-many-stations hydraulic geometry

Gleason

Smith

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

285

288

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Rivers provide critical water supply for many human societies and ecosystems, yet global knowledge of their flow rates is poor. We show that useful estimates of absolute river discharge (in cubic meters per second) may be derived solely from satellite images, with no ground-based or a priori information whatsoever. The approach works owing to discovery of a characteristic scaling law uniquely fundamental to natural rivers, here termed a river's at-many-stations hydraulic geometry. A first demonstration using Landsat Thematic Mapper images over three rivers in the United States, Canada, and China yields absolute discharges agreeing to within 20-30% of traditional in situ gauging station measurements and good tracking of flow changes over time. Within such accuracies, the door appears open for quantifying river resources globally with repeat imaging, both retroactively and henceforth into the future, with strong implications for water resource management, food security, ecosystem studies, flood forecasting, and geopolitics. S ome 80% of the world's population and 65% of its river ecosystems are threatened by insecure water supply, yet global knowledge of the river discharges upon which these depend is surprisingly poor (1, 2). For much of the world, river gauge measurements are rare, nonexistent, or proprietary. Even wellmonitored countries have sparsely distributed networks, thus limiting current understanding of water losses along river courses, habitat changes, and flood risk (3, 4). Satellites, in contrast, provide spatially dense coverage globally, attracting calls for a global river discharge mapping capacity from space (5-10). However, previous efforts to estimate river discharge from remotely sensed observations have all required inclusion of some form of ancillary ground-based information, such as gauge measurements, bathymetric surveys, and/or calibrated hydrology models that are simply unavailable for most of the planet (11-18). To remove this dependence on ground-based information, we show that useful estimates of absolute river discharge (i.e., in units of cubic meters per second) may be derived solely from multiple satellite images of a river, with no ground-based or a priori information whatsoever, through use of a characteristic scaling law, here termed a river's atmany-stations hydraulic geometry (AMHG). As will be shown in this paper, AMHG effectively halves the number of parameters required by traditional hydraulic geometry, thus paving the way for remote estimation of a single remaining parameter-and thus river discharge-through repeated satellite image observations along a river course. The presence of AMHG is verified in 12 of 12 rivers examined, using 88 in situ gauging stations, three fieldcalibrated hydrodynamic models incorporating 772 field-surveyed bathymetric cross-sections, and 42 Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) satellite images (SI Text, section S1, Materials and Methods and Tables S1 and S2). Following a description of width AMHG, an innovative satellite discharge estimation approach i...

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“…In this regard, Costa et al [18] demonstrated the monitoring potential of "no contact" radar sensors directly installed on a bridge or mounted on an arm connected to a pole positioned on the riverside [19]. Moreover, the application of remote sensing and satellite information to study the range of surface velocities in a river has drawn a great deal of interest in recent years [20][21][22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three Methods for Estimating the Entropy Parameter M Based on a Decreasing Number of Velocity Measurements in a River Cross-Section

Farina

Alvisi

Franchini

et al. 2014

Entropy

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Abstract:The theoretical development and practical application of three new methods for estimating the entropy parameter M used within the framework of the entropy method proposed by Chiu in the 1980s as a valid alternative to the velocity-area method for measuring the discharge in a river is here illustrated. The first method is based on reproducing the cumulative velocity distribution function associated with a flood event and requires measurements regarding the entire cross-section, whereas, in the second and third method, the estimate of M is based on reproducing the cross-sectional mean velocity U by following two different procedures. Both of them rely on the entropy parameter M alone and look for that value of M that brings two different estimates of U , obtained by using two different M-dependent-approaches, as close as possible. From an operational viewpoint, the acquisition of velocity data becomes increasingly simplified going from the first to the third approach, which uses only one surface velocity measurement. The procedures proposed are applied in a case study based on the Ponte Nuovo hydrometric station on the Tiber River in central Italy.

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Evaluating the potential for measuring river discharge from space

Cited by 301 publications

References 21 publications

River Discharge Estimation by Using Altimetry Data and Simplified Flood Routing Modeling

River Discharge Estimation by Using Altimetry Data and Simplified Flood Routing Modeling

Toward global mapping of river discharge using satellite images and at-many-stations hydraulic geometry

Three Methods for Estimating the Entropy Parameter M Based on a Decreasing Number of Velocity Measurements in a River Cross-Section

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