IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING LETTERS, VOL. 11, NO.

9, SEPTEMBER 2014 1475

Applying Satellite Altimetry to Wetland Water Levels

Monitoring (Case Study: Louisiana Wetland)
Saman Khajeh, Iraj Jazireeyan, and Alireza A. Ardalan

Abstract—The idea of the application of satellite radar altimetry

for inland water study has been considered for about two decades.
It has always been much challenging, because the returned signal
from inland water, in comparison to the ocean one, is very dif-
ferent. Thus the onboard satellite processing unit would not be
able to determine the exact tracking point. Therefore, the execu-
tion of waveform re-tracking is efficient to correct the presented
Range. The purpose of this letter is the application of the three
of waveform re-tracking methods, namely OCOG, NASA β and
Threshold and known as common methods, in order to monitor
the Louisiana wetland water level. The validation is done by cal-
culating the Correlation coefficient between the satellite altimetry
and the tide gauge observations. The correlation coefficient has
calculated between the two time series made from tide gauge
data and satellite data. The coefficient value without exerting Fig. 1. Brown Model [5].
re-tracking is 0.4758 and with re-tracking is 0.6462. Numerical
results shows, accuracy of water level monitoring increase up to
35.81% by the waveform re-tracking execution. In addition the these reasons, many efforts have been performed, like the study
results of all methods are compared with each other. of wetlands by the application of SEASAT satellite altimetry
data [1], the production of the first counter map from the marsh
Index Terms—Classifying, re-tracking, satellite altimetry, wave-
form, wetland. surface [2], the monitoring of elevation changes of Chad basin
by the application of TOPEX/Poseidon data [3] and the study of
I. I NTRODUCTION inland waters through the utilization of satellite altimetry data
[4], [5]. In fact the reflected signal from inland water surface
T HE inland waters are among the most important natural
factors affecting the survival of the human and other
creatures on earth. Because of that, for decades, many efforts
has very different shape compared to the ocean one. Thus, the
adaptive tracking unit (ATU) would not be able to determine
the accurate tracking point and the computed Range would be
have been made in order to study such waters and to analyze
biased [5]. Therefore, in order to correct the Range, waveform
the related subjects. Water level monitoring is one way to study
re-tracking is necessary. In this letter, the TOPEX altimeter
inland waters and is precisely the purpose of this letter. We
data, belonging to TOPEX/Poseidon mission, is utilized which
specifically study Louisiana wetland as the case study by its
is presented in two groups, namely GDR (Geophysical Data
water level monitoring. For this purpose satellite radar altimetry
Record) and SDR (Sensor Data Record) [6].The final result, by
technique is also applied.
the application of each re-tracking method, is a time series that
The satellite altimetry has proved its credibility and reliabil-
shows the water level fluctuations. The results are comparable
ity to study the ocean waters. Although main purpose of satellite
with tide gauge observations, as the validation reference.
altimetry is ocean study, the experts’ made attention to utilize
the observations of this technique to study inland waters such as
lakes, rivers and wetlands for many years. This modern branch II. M ETHODOLOGY
of study has always been associated with many challenges. For
The procedure of applying satellite radar altimetry to study
the oceans and inland waters depends on the physical properties
Manuscript received July 17, 2013; revised November 10, 2013; accepted
November 29, 2013. Date of publication January 10, 2014; date of current
of the case study. To understand the reason, one should notice
version March 14, 2014. the Range determination by the onboard processing unit. The
S. Khajeh is with the Islamic Azad University, Arsanjan Branch, Arsanjan, precise wave return time and also the Range is determined
Iran (e-mail: khajeh@iaua.ac.ir).
I. Jazireeyan is with the Department of Surveying and Geomatics Engi- based on the echo shape which is a function of footprint
neering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran 31587-4314, characteristics. Thus, the waveform that is returned from the
Iran and also with K.N.Toosi University of Technology Faculty of Geodesy inland water is much different from that of the ocean and the
& Geomatics Engineering, Tehran 19697, Iran (e-mail: jazirian@kntu.ac.ir).
A. A. Ardalan is with the Department of Surveying and Geomatics Engineer- onboard processing unit is not able to recognize the true return
ing, Center of Excellence in Surveying Engineering and Disaster Prevention, time. Thematically, Fig. 1 shows Brown model as the normal
University of Tehran Tehran 31587-4314, Iran (e-mail: Ardalan@ut.ac.ir). sample from ocean and Fig. 2 shows inland water waveform
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. samples that is selected randomly. Therefore, the efficiency
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LGRS.2013.2295831 of satellite altimetry and the Range accuracy decrease. To
1545-598X © 2014 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
1476 IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING LETTERS, VOL. 11, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2014

Fig. 2. Waveform samples from Louisiana wetland.

compensate these defects, waveform re-tracking is performed. TABLE I

C ORRELATION C OEFFICIENT B ETWEEN THE T IDE G AUGE AND S ATELLITE
In this letter, the three common re-tracking methods, namely A LTIMETRY T IME S ERIES , FOR S OME R E -T RACKING M ETHODS AS
Offset Center Of Gravity (OCOG), NASA β, and Threshold A PPLIED TO L OUISIANA W ETLAND
are implemented and the results have been presented for each
of them separately that are comparable with each other. The
computation for Threshold method is illustrated in

W avef orm Amplitude Amax = max (R(n)) (1)

1
7
T ermal noise DC = R(n) (2)
3 n=5

T hreshhold level T L = DC + T coef f (Amax − DC) (3)

T L − R(n̂ − 1)
T racking gate β3 = (n̂ − 1) + . (4)
R(n̂) − R(n̂ − 1)
These methods are described in detail in [4], [5], [7], [8].
Although the application of satellite radar altimetry to study
the oceans is not very complicated, but regarding inland waters
there are many complications that should be considered. In
addition to waveform re-tracking, it is not permitted to use all
of the data because not all of the observations are reliable and
credible for computing the Range correction by the application Quasi-Brown Model (to read about this model see [9]. There-
of waveform re-tracking. fore, the data classification acts an important role in such
Suppose such a classification is necessary to separate the study and is not ignorable. Another noticeable point is that, the
appropriate observations. The mentioned classification is based satellite measurements have been performed in 10 Hz format
on each observation waveform properties like having one peak (10 measurements through each frame), but they have been
through the Leading Edge region and being similar to the averaged 10 to 1, presented in the GDR and SDR data set. In
KHAJEH et al.: APPLYING SATELLITE ALTIMETRY TO WETLAND WATER LEVELS MONITORING
Fig. 3. Water level fluctuation of the case study from 1997 through 2000. (a). Re-tracked by Threshold (40%). (b). Not Re-tracked. (c). Re-tracked by OCOG.
(d). Re-tracked by NASA β.
this letter, for the purpose of using the data more completely,
all of the observations have been converted into 10 Hz and then
utilized.
In addition, the implementation procedure of the study can
be outlined in these steps:
1) Producing the 10 Hz data set by the application of GDR
and SDR data sets, belonging to TOPEX altimeter;
2) Separating the data which are appropriate and propor-
tional to the letter purposes, based on the waveform
shapes;
3) Performing the waveform re-tracking and computing the
Range correction;
4) Producing a time series of the water level fluctuations by
the implementation of each re-tracking methods;
5) Calculating the correlation coefficient and comparing the
results to determine the best re-tracking method;
III. L OUISIANA W ETLAND AS C ASE S TUDY
Wetlands are valuable to society and surrounding ecosys-
tems. To make it obvious, the functions of wetlands, like flood
prevention, removing pollutants from water, recharging ground-
water, protecting shorelines, providing habitat for wildlife, and
serving important recreational and cultural functions should
be considered. It has been estimated that the services value
that is generated by wetlands through the world is about
1477
4.9$ trillions for each year [10]. If wetlands are lost, the cost of
retrieving them would be extremely expensive, if at all possible.
In fact, wetlands can be mentioned as productive ecosystems
on earth. Louisiana Wetland is selected as the case study of
this letter which can be known as one of the vital assets of the
world. Unfortunately, in recent years it has been experiencing
the most critical coastal wetland erosion. Nearly 80% of the
wetland loss in America has occurred at the Louisiana region
[11]. There are many causes for this loss but the main factors
can be considered as the reductions in freshwater and sediment
inputs stemming from changes in wetland hydrology. Louisiana
wetland is located in the north of the Gulf of Mexico and at the
approximate geographical position of (29.70 N, 92.12 W). The
pass number 128 of the TOPEX/Poseidon mission goes through
this area. In this letter, the data referring to this pass from cycle
158 to 306 (from 1997 to 2000), belonging to TOPEX altimeter
and including SDR and GDR data sets, are collected as our
unique data set. The results refer to the data cell within the
radius of 1.5 km and centered at (29.7139 N, 92.1195 W).
IV. R ESULTS AND VALIDATION
Obviously, each kind of research needs to be validated to main-
tain whether it is efficient enough. In this letter, the tide gauge
observations have been considered as the validation reference.
The data belonging to tide gauge station namely “Cypremort”
1478 IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING LETTERS, VOL. 11, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2014
that is located at the geographical position (29.71 N, 91.88 W)
and about 20 km far away from the satellite pass is employed.
The correlation coefficient value is determined to compare the
results (the time series which shows water level fluctuation),
that is achieved from tide gauges and satellite altimetry observa-
tions. In fact, the nearer the correlation-coefficient value is to
one, the more accurate the satellite altimetry observations will
be. Of course, the closer the pass of satellite and tide gauge
stations are to each other, the more credible the validation
would be.
The tide gauge data1 referred to the Cypremort station lo-
cated at “29.71 N, 91.88 W” and the satellite data referred to the
pass No 128 collected at “29.70 N, 92.12 W” (north of Mexico
Gulf) is utilized for processing.
Now, the results of inland water level monitoring, referring to
Louisiana wetland, by the utilization of satellite radar altimeter
data and its improvement by the application of waveform re-
tracking methods are presented. As is obvious, each re-tracking
method has its unique result. Each re-tracking method propor-
tional to the region properties has a degree of efficiency and
it would be known empirically. Table I shows the correlation
coefficient between the water level fluctuations that is resulted
by tide gauge observations and satellite altimetry observations,
without applying any re-tracking and while the re-tracking is
performed. In this region the Threshold re-tracking method, by
40% as Threshold value, has presented the biggest Correlation
Coefficient value. That means, by using this re-tracking method
the most accurate measurement of sea level by this technique
will be achieved.
By Fig. 3, comparing the results and the effect of re-tracking
is feasible. In fact this figure shows the water level fluctuation
of the case study from 1997 through 2000.
V. C ONCLUSION
The application of satellite radar altimetry has its unique
complication but it can be considered as an acceptable tech-
nique to monitor inland water levels. According to the presented
results, the waveform re-tracking execution and the data classi-
fication are not ignorable and it is necessary that they be done.
Like any other study methods it has some disadvantages that
can be referred to the dependence on the physical situation of
the case study. In other words, for any region, the appropri-
ate re-tracking method should be determined empirically and
validated for a limited time period. Then it can be applied to
1 http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov
the whole data. In this letter, Threshold (40%) is the best re-
tracking method which improved the results.
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