Near real-time measurement of inland waters

(Birkett, others)

Satellite radar altimeters are used to monitor the variation of surface water height of large inland water bodies. Using near-real time Jason data, a time series of surface water height variations is constructed. A semi-automated data ingestion/analysis system delivers time series products to a website for public access and to serve the USDA/FAS for its flood/drought investigations. This project is the first of its kind to utilize near-real time altimeter data over inland water in such an operational manner. Users: Primarily the US Dept. of Agriculture, Foreign Agriculture Service, PECAD division (Production Estimation and Crop Assessment Division), http://www.fas.usda.gov/pecad.