Surface Freshwater Storage Variations in the Orinoco Floodplains Using Multi-Satellite Observations
by
Frédéric Frappart 1,2,*, Fabrice Papa 2,3
, Yoann Malbeteau 4, Juan Gabriel León 5, Guillaume Ramillien 1, Catherine Prigent 6, Lucía Seoane 1, Frédérique Seyler 7 and Stéphane Calmant 2
, Yoann Malbeteau 4, Juan Gabriel León 5, Guillaume Ramillien 1, Catherine Prigent 6, Lucía Seoane 1, Frédérique Seyler 7 and Stéphane Calmant 2
1
GET-GRGS, UMR 5563, CNRS/IRD/UPS, Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, 14 Avenue Edouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France
2
LEGOS-GRGS, UMR 5566, CNES/CNRS/IRD/UPS, Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, 14 Avenue Edouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France
3
Indo-French Cell for Water Sciences, IRD-IISc Joint International Laboratory, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India
4
CESBIO, UMR 5126, CNES/CNRS/IRD/UPS, Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, 14 Avenue Edouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France
5
Facultad de Ingeniería y Administración, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, sede Palmira 76520000, Colombia
6
LERMA, CNRS, Observatoire de Paris, 75000 Paris, France
7
ESPACE-DEV, UMR 228, IRD/UAG/UM2/UR, 34961 Montpellier, France
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editors: Alisa L. Gallant, Richard Gloaguen and Prasad S. Thenkabail
Remote Sens. 2015, 7(1), 89-110; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70100089
Received: 29 September 2014 / Accepted: 16 December 2014 / Published: 24 December 2014
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Towards Remote Long-Term Monitoring of Wetland Landscapes)
Variations in surface water extent and storage are poorly characterized from regional to global scales. In this study, a multi-satellite approach is proposed to estimate the water stored in the floodplains of the Orinoco Basin at a monthly time-scale using remotely-sensed observations of surface water from the Global Inundation Extent Multi-Satellite (GIEMS) and stages from Envisat radar altimetry. Surface water storage variations over 2003–2007 exhibit large interannual variability and a strong seasonal signal, peaking during summer, and associated with the flood pulse. The volume of surface water storage in the Orinoco Basin was highly correlated with the river discharge at Ciudad Bolivar (R = 0.95), the closest station to the mouth where discharge was estimated, although discharge lagged one month behind storage. The correlation remained high (R = 0.73) after removing seasonal effects. Mean annual variations in surface water volume represented ~170 km3, contributing to ~45% of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)-derived total water storage variations and representing ~13% of the total volume of water that flowed out of the Orinoco Basin to the Atlantic Ocean.
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MDPI and ACS Style
Frappart, F.; Papa, F.; Malbeteau, Y.; León, J.G.; Ramillien, G.; Prigent, C.; Seoane, L.; Seyler, F.; Calmant, S. Surface Freshwater Storage Variations in the Orinoco Floodplains Using Multi-Satellite Observations. Remote Sens. 2015, 7, 89-110.
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