Monitoring of Inland Waters by Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar: First Results

Permanent monitoring of inland waters in cold regions with long-time snow and ice covers is very important for the population safety. Modern spaceborne radars can significantly extend the capabilities of the terrestrial hydrological network, since they enable one to perform measurements over large a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE journal of selected topics in applied earth observations and remote sensing 2018-11, Vol.11 (11), p.4364-4372
Main Authors: Karaev, Vladimir, Panfilova, Mariya, Titchenko, Yury, Meshkov, Eugeny, Balandina, Galina, Andreeva, Zoya
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Area
Backscatter radar cross section (RCS)
Cold regions
Data
Data analysis
Data processing
Dependence
dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR)
Exploration
hydrological monitoring of inland waters
Hydrology
Ice
Ice cover
Incidence angle
Inland waters
Japanese space program
Lakes
Land surface
Monitoring
open water
Precipitation
Radar
Radar cross sections
Radar imaging
Rivers
Sea surface
Soil
spring flood
Territory
Water consumption
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Summary:Permanent monitoring of inland waters in cold regions with long-time snow and ice covers is very important for the population safety. Modern spaceborne radars can significantly extend the capabilities of the terrestrial hydrological network, since they enable one to perform measurements over large areas. In 2014, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the spaceborne dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR). The main objective of the mission is the precipitation measurement. However, the radar cross section (RCS) measured at the maximal range contains information about the scattering surface. For the first time, DPR measurements over the Russian territory were processed. The sources of in situ data were hydrological stations. The Gorky reservoir and the Volga River were selected for sensing small-area inland waters. The data processing confirmed the possibility of detecting inland waters whose area is significantly smaller than the radar footprint. A ground-to-water ratio was introduced to estimate the open water area inside the footprint. Processing of the DPR data obtained for the Lake Baikal enabled us to calculate the dependence of the RCS on the incidence angle and propose a novel algorithm for separating open water and ice cover. The Moksha River was selected as a wetland with many small rivers. The data processing has shown that the spring change of inland waters and soil can be observed in the DPR image.
ISSN:1939-1404
2151-1535
DOI:10.1109/JSTARS.2018.2874697