Surface water dynamics in the Amazon Basin: Application of satellite radar altimetry

Satellite radar altimetry has the ability to monitor variations in surface water height (stage) for large wetlands, rivers, and associated floodplains. A clear advantage is the provision of data where traditional gauges are absent. As part of an international program, a complete altimetric analysis of the Amazon Basin is being undertaken. Here, an updated and more rigorous evaluation of the TOPEX/POSEIDON (T/P) data set is presented for the first ∼7.5 years of the mission. With an initial study group of 230 targets, height variability at many ungauged locations can be observed for 30–50%, the range reflecting the clarity of the variations in lieu of instrument limitations. An assessment of the instrument performance confirms that the minimum river width attainable is ∼1 km in the presence of some inundated floodplain. This constraint does allow observation of the main stem (Solimões/Amazon) and the larger tributaries, but rugged terrain in the vicinity of the target additionally places severe limitations on data retrieval. First‐order validation exercises with the deduced 1992–1999 time series of stage fluctuations reveal accuracies ranging from tens of centimeters to several meters (mean ∼1.1 m rms). Altimetric water levels in the Solimões and Amazon are particularly well defined with amplitudes <13 m and variations in peak‐level timing from May to July. The water‐surface gradient of the main stem is found to vary both spatially and temporally, with values ranging from 1.5 cm/km downstream to 4.0 cm/km for more upstream reaches. In agreement with ground‐based estimates, the seasonal variability of the gradients reveals that the hysteresis characteristic of the flood wave varies along the main stem and the derived altimetric velocity of this flood wave is estimated to be ∼0.35 m/s. Overall, the altimetric results demonstrate that the T/P mission is successfully monitoring the transient flood waves of this continental‐scale river basin.