Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Professor Philip Moore, Dr Stephen Birkinshaw
Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.
© 2017 This study uniquely processes Cryosat-2 Full Bit Rate (FBR) SAR Level 1A data to recover inland water heights. The processing methodology involves an azimuthal Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) for the burst echo data followed by beam formation directed towards equi-angular ground points, stacking, slant range correction, multi-looking and finally retracking. It is seen that speckle in the burst echo data affects the recovered heights with precise heights recovered only through stacking and forming multi-look waveforms. Also investigated is the effect of different numbers of multi-looks in the stack to form the final waveform for retracking. A number of empirical retrackers are utilized over inland waters and compared against the oceanic SAMOSA2 and the OCOG/Threshold retrackers. Use of the SAMOSA2 retracker is shown to be inappropriate for inland waters. The use of 81 multi-looks from the stack centred on the nadir direction is shown to be preferred across Tonlé Sap with the RMS of height residuals in the range 4–6 cm. External validation across Tonlé Sap using gauge data shows that CryoSat-2 heights (RMS 42.1 cm) are comparable to OSTM (RMS 42.6 cm) despite the CryoSat-2 non-repeating orbit which precludes the use of a mean profile. Validation against gauge data at Kratie on the Mekong gives an RMS of 59.9 cm for Cryosat-2 against an RMS of 35.5 cm and 52.2 cm derived from Envisat. The CryoSat-2 results utilize an approximate correction for river slope as the river crossings span 5 km upstream to 80 km downstream of the gauge while the repeat pass crossings of Envisat are at 7 km and 43 km from the gauge. Validation of Amazon altimetric Surface Water Elevation (SWE) showed RMS agreement of 27.3 cm with Obidos gauge data and 56.3 cm at Manacapuru 650 km upstream of Obidos. Overall validations showed that CryoSat-2 altimetric river heights are more accurate than those from TOPEX/Poseidon, OSTM and Envisat for relatively large water bodies but less accurate than the Ka band SARAL (Satellite with ARgos and ALtiKa).
Author(s): Moore P, Birkinshaw SJ, Ambrozio A, Restano M, Benveniste J
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Advances in Space Research
Year: 2018
Volume: 62
Issue: 6
Pages: 1497-1515
Print publication date: 15/09/2018
Online publication date: 18/12/2017
Acceptance date: 13/12/2017
ISSN (print): 0273-1177
ISSN (electronic): 1879-1948
Publisher: Pergamon Press
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2017.12.015
DOI: 10.1016/j.asr.2017.12.015
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
