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Smith et al. 1995

Smith, L.C., Isacks, B.L., Forster, R.R., Bloom, A.L. and Preuss, I. (1995). Estimation of discharge from braided glacial rivers using ERS 1 synthetic aperture radar: First results. Water Resources Research 31: doi: 10.1029/95WR00145. issn: 0043-1397.

Using multitemporal ERS 1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite imagery and simultaneous ground measurements of streamflow, a strong correlation (R2=0.89) was found between water surface area and discharge for a braided glacial river in British Columbia, Canada. Satellite-derived effective width (We) was found to vary with discharge (Q) as We=27.5Q0.42, where We is defined as the total water surface area within a 10 km¿3 km control section, divided by the section length. This ''area/discharge rating curve'' yields instantaneous discharge estimates with a mean error of ¿275 m3/s for ground-measured flows that ranged from 242 to 6350 m3/s. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1995

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

	Abstract

Keywords
Hydrology, Runoff and streamflow, Hydrology, Floods, Hydrology, Hydroclimatology, Hydrology, Snow and ice

Journal
Water Resources Research
http://www.agu.org/wrr/

Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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