A Framework for Estimating Global River Discharge From the Surface Water and Ocean Topography Satellite Mission
2023
Durand, Michael | Gleason, Colin, J | Pavelsky, Tamlin, M | Prata de Moraes Frasson, Renato | Turmon, Michael | David, Cédric, H | Altenau, Elizabeth, H | Tebaldi, Nikki | Larnier, Kevin | Monnier, Jerome | Malaterre, Pierre-Olivier | Oubanas, Hind | Allen, George, H | Astifan, Brian | Brinkerhoff, Craig | Bates, Paul, D | Bjerklie, David | Coss, Stephen | Dudley, Robert | Fenoglio, Luciana | Garambois, Pierre‐andré | Getirana, Augusto | Lin, Peirong | Margulis, Steven, A | Matte, Pascal | Minear, J. Toby | Muhebwa, Aggrey | Pan, Ming | Peters, Daniel | Riggs, Ryan | Sikder, Md, Safat | Simmons, Travis | Stuurman, Cassie | Taneja, Jay | Tarpanelli, Angelica | Schulze, Kerstin | Tourian, Mohammad, J | Wang, Jida | The Ohio State University [Columbus] (OSU) | School of Earth Sciences [Columbus] ; The Ohio State University [Columbus] (OSU) | University of Massachusetts [Amherst] (UMass Amherst) ; University of Massachusetts System (UMASS) | University of North Carolina [Chapel Hill] (UNC) ; University of North Carolina System (UNC) | California Institute of Technology (CALTECH) | CS Group - SI Toulouse [France] (C-S Group) | Institut National des Sciences Appliquées - Toulouse (INSA Toulouse) ; Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Université de Toulouse (UT) | Institut de Mathématiques de Toulouse UMR5219 (IMT) ; Université Toulouse Capitole (UT Capitole) ; Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées - Toulouse (INSA Toulouse) ; Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès (UT2J) ; Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3) ; Université de Toulouse (UT)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | Gestion de l'Eau, Acteurs, Usages (UMR G-EAU) ; Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-AgroParisTech-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut Agro Montpellier ; Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro) | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University [Blacksburg] | NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) | University of Bristol [Bristol] | U.S Geological Survey | Institut für Geodäsie und Geoinformationstechnik ; Technical University of Berlin / Technische Universität Berlin (TUB) | Universität Bonn = University of Bonn | Risques, Ecosystèmes, Vulnérabilité, Environnement, Résilience (RECOVER) ; Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE) | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) | Peking University [Beijing] | Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering [UCLA - Los Angeles] ; University of California [Los Angeles] (UCLA) ; University of California (UC)-University of California (UC) | Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) | University of Colorado [Boulder] | Kansas State University | University of California [San Diego] (UC San Diego) ; University of California (UC) | Texas A&M University [College Station] | California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA | Research Institute for the Geo-Hydrological Protection, National Research Council (CNR), Perugia | University of Stuttgart = Universität Stuttgart
International audience
Show more [+] Less [-]English. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission will vastly expand measurements of global rivers, providing critical new data sets for both gaged and ungaged basins. SWOT discharge products (available approximately 1 year after launch) will provide discharge for all river that reaches wider than 100 m. In this paper, we describe how SWOT discharge produced and archived by the US and French space agencies will be computed from measurements of river water surface elevation, width, and slope and ancillary data, along with expected discharge accuracy. We present for the first time a complete estimate of the SWOT discharge uncertainty budget, with separate terms for random (standard error) and systematic (bias) uncertainty components in river discharge time series. We expect that discharge uncertainty will be less than 30% for two-thirds of global reaches and will be dominated by bias. Separate river discharge estimates will combine both SWOT and in situ data; these “gage-constrained” discharge estimates can be expected to have lower systematic uncertainty. Temporal variations in river discharge time series will be dominated by random error and are expected to be estimated within 15% for nearly all reaches, allowing accurate inference of event flow dynamics globally, including in ungaged basins. We believe this level of accuracy lays the groundwork for SWOT to enable breakthroughs in global hydrologic science.Plain Language Summary The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite mission was launched on 15 December 2022. SWOT is designed to produce estimates of river discharge on many rivers where no in situ discharge measurements are currently available. This paper describes how SWOT discharge estimates will be created, and their expected accuracy. SWOT discharge will be estimated using simple flow laws that combine SWOT measurements of river water elevation above sea level, river width, and river slope, with ancillary data such as river bathymetry. We expect that discharge uncertainty will be less than 30% for two-thirds of global reaches and will be dominated by a systematic bias. Temporal variations in river discharge time series are expected to be estimated within 15% for nearly all reaches, thus capturing the response of river discharge to rainfall and snowmelt events, including in basins that are currently ungaged, and providing a new capability for scientists to better track the flows of freshwater water through the Earth system.
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