Ob' river discharge from TOPEX/Poseidon satellite altimetry (1992–2002)

• Published in: Remote Sensing of Environment
• Main Authors: Kouraev, A., Zakharova, E. A., Samain, O., Mognard-Campbell, N., Cazenave, A.
• Other Authors: Laboratoire d'études en Géophysique et océanographie spatiales (LEGOS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre de Météorologie Radar de Meteo France, Direction des Systèmes d'Observation Toulouse (DSO), Météo-France-Météo-France
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2004
• Subjects: Ob' river level and discharge; TOPEX/Poseidon; Radar altimetry; [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; Arctic; Salekhard; ob river
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00280276; https://hal.science/hal-00280276/document; https://hal.science/hal-00280276/file/Kouraev2004b.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2004.07.007

The paper discusses an application of the TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) altimetry data to estimate the discharge of one of the largest Arctic rivers—the Ob' river. We first discuss the methodology to select and retrieve the altimeter water levels during the various phases of the hydrological regime. Then we establish the relationships between the satellite-derived water levels and the in situ river discharge measurements at the Salekhard gauging station near the Ob' estuary. The comparison of in situ and satellite-derived estimations of the Ob' discharge at Salekhard shows that the T/P data can successfully be used for hydrological studies of this river. We address the problems affecting the accuracy of the discharge estimations from altimeter measurements, identify potential solutions and suggest how satellite altimetry data may benefit hydrological studies of Arctic rivers.