Abstract

LEON HERNANDEZ, Juan Gabriel; DOMINGUEZ CALLE, Efraín Antonio  and  DUQUE NIVIA, Guillermo. The most recent satellite radar altimetry applications in hydrology: The case of the Amazon basin. Ing. Investig. [online]. 2008, vol.28, n.3, pp.126-131. ISSN 0120-5609.

This paper summarises the principles of satellite radar altimetry and presents this technology’s most important applications for analysing continental surface water within an area known as spatial hydrology; generating virtual gauging stations is one of its most important applications (intersection between satellite tracking and bodies of water: rivers, lakes, inland seas). These stations are currently being used for supporting hydrological monitoring, especially in increasing in-situ gauging station network density. Such spatial data-based virtual stations could thus be characterised in the same way as in-situ gauging stations producing hydraulic data (bed slope, zero flow depth, Manning coefficient, etc) which, until now, could only be directly obtained from in-situ measurements.

Keywords : radar altimetry; virtual gauging station; rating curve; hydrological modelling; Amazon basin.

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