Estimation of river discharge, propagation speed, and hydraulic geometry from space: Lena River, Siberia ...

• Main Authors: Smith, L.C., Pavelsky, T.M.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2008
• Subjects: lena river; Siberia
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17615/s206-de84; https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/articles/f7623p53h

Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-derived measurements of Lena River effective width (We) display a high predictive capacity (r2 = 0.81, mean absolute error < 25%) to forecast downstream discharge conditions at Kusur station, some 8 d and ∼700 km later. Satellite-derived mean flow propagation speed (88 km d-1 or 1.01 m s-1) compares well with that estimated from ground data (84 km d -1 or 0.97 m s-1). Scaling analysis of a ∼300 km heavily braided study reach suggests that at length scales > 60-90 km (∼2-3 time valley width), satellite-derived We - Q rating curves and hydraulic geometry (b exponents) converge upon stable values (b = 0.48), indicating transferability of the discharge retrieval method between different locations. Put another way, at length scales exceeding ∼60-90 km all subreaches display similar behavior everywhere. At finer reach length scales (e.g., 0.25-1 km), longitudinal extraction of b exponents represents the first continuous mapping of a classical hydraulic ...