TY - GEN
T1 - Global current measurements in rivers by spaceborne along-track InSAR
AU - Romeiser, Roland
AU - Sprenger, Judith
AU - Stammer, Detlef
AU - Runge, Hartmut
AU - Suchandt, Steffen
PY - 2005/12/1
Y1 - 2005/12/1
N2 - The global monitoring of volume transports of large rivers is a challenging technological problem with a number of important applications. It is highly desirable to use satellite-based remote sensing techniques for consistent worldwide measurements on a regular basis. While water level measurements in rivers with spaceborne altimeters have already been demonstrated a few years ago, instruments for routine current measurements from space have not been available until now. This will change with the advent of along-track interferometric synthetic aperture radars (along-track InSARs) on upcoming satellites such as the German TerraSAR-X, which is scheduled for launch in 2006. In this paper we evaluate the potential of such instruments for current measurements in rivers. We consider fundamental theoretical issues as well as existing InSAR data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and numerical simulation results. We find that currents in the Elbe river estuary (Germany) can be derived from SRTM data quite well. A similar data quality is predicted for TerraSAR-X. We discuss the potential of TerraSAR-X for routine current measurements in rivers and propose the development of a comprehensive data synthesis system which combines water level and current data from satellites and other sources in such a way that a maximum amount of information on rivers is obtained.
AB - The global monitoring of volume transports of large rivers is a challenging technological problem with a number of important applications. It is highly desirable to use satellite-based remote sensing techniques for consistent worldwide measurements on a regular basis. While water level measurements in rivers with spaceborne altimeters have already been demonstrated a few years ago, instruments for routine current measurements from space have not been available until now. This will change with the advent of along-track interferometric synthetic aperture radars (along-track InSARs) on upcoming satellites such as the German TerraSAR-X, which is scheduled for launch in 2006. In this paper we evaluate the potential of such instruments for current measurements in rivers. We consider fundamental theoretical issues as well as existing InSAR data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and numerical simulation results. We find that currents in the Elbe river estuary (Germany) can be derived from SRTM data quite well. A similar data quality is predicted for TerraSAR-X. We discuss the potential of TerraSAR-X for routine current measurements in rivers and propose the development of a comprehensive data synthesis system which combines water level and current data from satellites and other sources in such a way that a maximum amount of information on rivers is obtained.
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U2 - 10.1109/IGARSS.2005.1526106
DO - 10.1109/IGARSS.2005.1526106
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:33745727916
SN - 0780390504
SN - 9780780390508
T3 - International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS)
SP - 71
EP - 74
BT - 25th Anniversary IGARSS 2005
T2 - 2005 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, IGARSS 2005
Y2 - 25 July 2005 through 29 July 2005
ER -