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Using multitemporal ERS 1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite imagery and simultaneous ground measurements of streamflow, a strong correlation ( R 2 = 0.89) was found between water surface area and discharge for a braided glacial river in British Columbia, Canada. Satellite‐derived effective width ( W e ) was found to vary with discharge ( Q ) as W e = 27.5 Q 0.42 , where W e 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 m 3 /s for ground‐measured flows that ranged from 242 to 6350 m 3 /s.
Smith et al. (Mon,) studied this question.