Monitoring water level in large trans-boundary ungauged basins with altimetry: the example of ENVISAT over the Amazon basin

Frederique Seyler; Stephane Calmant; Joecila da Silva; Naziano Filizola; Emmanuel Roux; Gerard Cochonneau; Philippe Vauchel; Marie-Paule Bonnet

doi:10.1117/12.813258

19 December 2008 Monitoring water level in large trans-boundary ungauged basins with altimetry: the example of ENVISAT over the Amazon basin

Frederique Seyler, Stephane Calmant, Joecila da Silva, Naziano Filizola, Emmanuel Roux, Gerard Cochonneau, Philippe Vauchel, Marie-Paule Bonnet

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7150, Remote Sensing of Inland, Coastal, and Oceanic Waters; 715017 (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.813258
Event: SPIE Asia-Pacific Remote Sensing, 2008, Noumea, New Caledonia

Abstract

Brasil and Bolivia have water plans projects on the Beni-Madeira river, a major tributary of the Amazon. There are four main tributaries to the Rio Madeira: the Guapore, the Mamore and the Beni rivers into the Bolivian territory, and the Madre de Dios River crossing the North of Bolivia, coming from Peru. Most parts of these rivers are very far from the Andean capital cities of Bolivia and Peru, unreachable for long periods of time. Very few gauging stations are in operation, either for the Bolivian or the Peruvian part, most of them being located at the Andes piedmont or near the confluence at the Brazilian border as they form the Madeira river. This situation is exemplary of large transboundary basins in the tropical part of the world. We have computed 39 water level time series using ENVISAT altimetry data over the four tributaries of the Madeira and the Madeira itself. We present a preliminary study mostly conducted onto the Guapore river, in order to assess the quality of these time series for a variety of situations, but mostly narrow and meandering riverbeds. Comparison between water levels variation in the mainstream and within the inundations plains and lakes are drawn. We conclude by the perspectives offered by the combined use of radar altimetry and SAR imagery for the global monitoring of water resources, in large tropical transboundary basins.

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Frederique Seyler, Stephane Calmant, Joecila da Silva, Naziano Filizola, Emmanuel Roux, Gerard Cochonneau, Philippe Vauchel, and Marie-Paule Bonnet "Monitoring water level in large trans-boundary ungauged basins with altimetry: the example of ENVISAT over the Amazon basin", Proc. SPIE 7150, Remote Sensing of Inland, Coastal, and Oceanic Waters, 715017 (19 December 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.813258

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