A tc.chniquc for using satellite radar altimetry data to estimate the temporal variation of the water ICVC1 in moderate to large inland bodies of wa[cr (Iakcs, in particular) is dcscribcd. Grcal Lakes data from the first two years of the U. S. Navy’s Gcosat Exact Repeat Mission (November 1986November 1988), for which there is an improved orbit, arc used to dcmonstra[c the technique. The Gcosat ...

A low-cost Twin-Otter based laser altimetry and scanning system have been set up by KMS in several different commercial aircraft, and flown extensively in connection with airborne gravity activities in the Arctic Ocean north of Greenland, as well as on various research projects on the ice sheet and coastal glaciers in Greenland. The hardware system is based on a Riegl laser swath scanner or Opt...

The Tibetan Plateau (TP) has been observed by satellite optical remote sensing, altimetry, and gravimetry for a variety of geophysical parameters, including water storage change. However, each of these sensors has its respective limitation in the parameters observed, accuracy and spatial-temporal resolution. Here, we utilized an integrated approach to combine remote sensing imagery, digital ele...

The Brazilian Amazon has a deficit of 35% of coverage regarding topographic mapping at semi-detailed (1:100,000) scale. This paper presents an alternative to overcome this scenario using a combination of planialtimetric information from two orbital SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) missions. The altimetry was acquired from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), while the planimetry was provided ...

ICESat satellite laser altimetry provides an unprecedented set of global elevation measurements of the Earth, yielding great detail over ice, land and ocean surfaces. Coastal regions in particular, including seamless land-water transitions, benefit from the small footprint (50 to 90 m), high resolution (40 Hz, ~170 m along-track), and high precision (2 to 3 cm) of ICESat. We discuss the perform...

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has been successfully used to map wetland’s inundation extents and types of vegetation based on the fact that the SAR backscatter signal from the wetland is mainly controlled by the wetland vegetation type and water level changes. This study describes the relation between L-band PALSAR σ and seasonal water level changes obtained from Envisat altimetry over the isl...

Snow on Antarctic sea ice plays a key role for sea ice physical processes and complicates retrieval of sea ice thickness using altimetry. Current methods of snow depth retrieval are based on satellite microwave radiometry, which perform best for dry, homogeneous snow packs on level sea ice. We introduce an alternative approach based on in-situ measurements of total (sea ice plus snow) freeboard...

This paper presents the Coastal Altimetry Waveform Retracking Expert System (CAWRES), a novel method to optimise the Jason satellite altimetric sea levels from multiple retracking solutions. CAWRES’ aim is to achieve the highest possible accuracy of coastal sea levels, thus bringing measurement of radar altimetry data closer to the coast. The principles of CAWRES are twofold. The first is to re...

Satellite and airborne observations of surface elevation are critical in understanding climatic glaciological processes quantifying their impact on changes ice masses sea level contribution. With the growing number dedicated campaigns experimental operational satellite missions, science community has access to unprecedented ever-increasing data. Combining datasets allows potentially greater spa...