The contribution of TOPEX/POSEIDON to the global monitoring of climatically sensitive lakes

Birkett, C. M.

doi:10.1029/95jc02125

Cited by 346 publications

(248 citation statements)

References 34 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

241

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Jason-1 is the T/P follow-on mission and has been measuring ocean surface topography since December 2001. Both T/P and Jason-1 data have also been widely used to study inland lake level variations (Birkett, 1995). Moreover, lake levels derived from satellite altimetry data are highly reliable, with errors on the order of a few centimeters (Birkett, 1995;Alsdorf et al, 2001).…”

Section: Data Usedmentioning

confidence: 99%

A multi-source satellite data approach for modelling Lake Turkana water level: calibration and validation using satellite altimetry data

Velpuri

Senay

Asante³

2012

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Lake Turkana is one of the largest desert lakes in the world and is characterized by high degrees of interand intra-annual fluctuations. The hydrology and water balance of this lake have not been well understood due to its remote location and unavailability of reliable ground truth datasets. Managing surface water resources is a great challenge in areas where in-situ data are either limited or unavailable. In this study, multi-source satellite-driven data such as satellite-based rainfall estimates, modelled runoff, evapotranspiration, and a digital elevation dataset were used to model Lake Turkana water levels from 1998 to 2009. Due to the unavailability of reliable lake level data, an approach is presented to calibrate and validate the water balance model of Lake Turkana using a composite lake level product of TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, and ENVISAT satellite altimetry data. Model validation results showed that the satellitedriven water balance model can satisfactorily capture the patterns and seasonal variations of the Lake Turkana water level fluctuations with a Pearson's correlation coefficient of 0.90 and a Nash-Sutcliffe Coefficient of Efficiency (NSCE) of 0.80 during the validation period (2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009). Model error estimates were within 10 % of the natural variability of the lake. Our analysis indicated that fluctuations in Lake Turkana water levels are mainly driven by lake inflows and over-the-lake evaporation. Over-the-lake rainfall contributes only up to 30 % of lake evaporative demand. During the modelling time period, Lake Turkana showed seasonal variations of 1-2 m. The lake level fluctuated in the range up to 4 m between the years 1998-2009. This study demonstrated the usefulness of satellite altimetry data to calibrate and validate the satellite-driven hydrological model for Lake Turkana without using any in-situ data. Furthermore, for Lake Turkana, we identified and outlined opportunities and challenges of using a calibrated satellite-driven water balance model for (i) quantitative assessment of the impact of basin developmental activities on lake levels and for (ii) forecasting lake level changes and their impact on fisheries. From this study, we suggest that globally available satellite altimetry data provide a unique opportunity for calibration and validation of hydrologic models in ungauged basins.

show abstract

Section: Data Usedmentioning

confidence: 99%

A multi-source satellite data approach for modelling Lake Turkana water level: calibration and validation using satellite altimetry data

Velpuri

Senay

Asante³

2012

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For terrestrial water studies, radar altimeter-derived water levels have been long shown to be precise enough for systematic monitoring of large rivers, lakes, wetlands and floodplains (e.g., [19,[43][44][45][46]). The principle of radar altimetry is that the altimeter emits a radar pulse and measures the two-way travel time from the satellite to the surface.…”

Section: Envisat Ra-2 Radar Altimeter-derived Water Levelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface Freshwater Storage Variations in the Orinoco Floodplains Using Multi-Satellite Observations

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Variations in surface water extent and storage are poorly characterized from regional to global scales. In this study, a multi-satellite approach is proposed to estimate the water stored in the floodplains of the Orinoco Basin at a monthly time-scale using remotely-sensed observations of surface water from the Global Inundation Extent Multi-Satellite (GIEMS) and stages from Envisat radar altimetry. Surface water storage variations over [2003][2004][2005][2006][2007] exhibit large interannual variability and a strong seasonal signal, peaking during summer, OPEN ACCESSRemote Sens. 2015, 7 90 and associated with the flood pulse. The volume of surface water storage in the Orinoco Basin was highly correlated with the river discharge at Ciudad Bolivar (R = 0.95), the closest station to the mouth where discharge was estimated, although discharge lagged one month behind storage. The correlation remained high (R = 0.73) after removing seasonal effects. Mean annual variations in surface water volume represented ~170 km 3 , contributing to ~45% of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)-derived total water storage variations and representing ~13% of the total volume of water that flowed out of the Orinoco Basin to the Atlantic Ocean.

show abstract

“…In this context, although not specifically dedicated for inland waters, radar altimetry represents an interesting alternative to record the in situ water level measurements in the continental environment. Indeed, satellite altimetry has been developed and optimized for open ocean and, only later, the capability of measuring water level change of continental surface reservoirs, such as inland seas and lakes, has been demonstrated [8][9][10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

The contribution of TOPEX/POSEIDON to the global monitoring of climatically sensitive lakes

Cited by 346 publications

References 34 publications

A multi-source satellite data approach for modelling Lake Turkana water level: calibration and validation using satellite altimetry data

A multi-source satellite data approach for modelling Lake Turkana water level: calibration and validation using satellite altimetry data

Surface Freshwater Storage Variations in the Orinoco Floodplains Using Multi-Satellite Observations

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

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About