TY - GEN
T1 - On the potential of current measurements by spaceborne along-track InSAR for river runoff monitoring
AU - Romeiser, Roland
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 (he 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 (he 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/OCEANSE.2005.1513156
DO - 10.1109/OCEANSE.2005.1513156
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:33746870821
SN - 0780391039
SN - 9780780391031
T3 - Oceans 2005 - Europe
SP - 787
EP - 792
BT - Oceans 2005 - Europe
T2 - Oceans 2005 - Europe
Y2 - 20 June 2005 through 23 June 2005
ER -