@article{fdi:010048450,
  title = {{H}ydrological monitoring of poorly gauged basins based on rainfall-runoff modeling and spatial altimetry},
  author = {{G}etirana, {A}. {C}. {V}. and {B}onnet, {M}arie-{P}aule and {C}almant, {S}t{\'e}phane and {R}oux, {E}mmanuel and {R}otunno, {O}. {C}. and {M}ansur, {W}. {J}.},
  editor = {},
  language = {{ENG}},
  abstract = {{T}he main objective of this study is to take advantage of spatial altimetry data to help monitoring river discharges in poorly gauged basins. {A} methodology is defined to obtain high accuracy relationships between water levels provided by spatial altimetry and water discharge computed by a hydrological model. {T}he proposed method is based on a distributed rainfall-runoff model calibrated and validated against a few in situ data. {D}ischarge is modeled in a daily time step at river locations tracked by the satellite and combined with water height observations to produce rating curves. {T}he methodology is evaluated in the {N}orthern {A}mazon basin, corresponding to the upper part of the {B}ranco {R}iver basin, the major tributary of the {N}egro {R}iver. {T}he {MGB}-{IPH} (an acronym from the {P}ortuguese for {L}arge {B}asins {M}odel and {I}nstitute of {H}ydraulic {R}esearch) is run for a 10-year period, from {J}anuary 1997 to {D}ecember 2006, in a daily time step. {E}ight gauge stations are used to calibrate and validate the model, resulting in {N}ash-{S}utcliffe coefficients from 0.47 ({M}aloca do {C}ontao station - 5896 km(2)) to 0.85 ({C}aracarai station 126,085 km(2)) in the calibration process, and 0.42 ({P}osto {F}unai station - 9708 km(2)) to 0.94 (also at {C}aracarai station) in the validation process. {R}esults suggest the existence of relations between model accuracy and the size of drainage areas, which can be firstly attributed to a poor rainfall monitoring and also to model restrictions. which was specially developed to large basins. {W}ater level time series (35-day time step) at 12 virtual stations ({VS}) are deduced from {ENVISAT} tracks from {O}ctober 2002 to {N}ovember 2006. {T}he rating curve parameters, including the zero-flow depth (h), are estimated by fitting a power-law relation between modeled discharges and satellite-derived water altimetry. {Z}ero-flow depths are optimized for each {VS} in order to define the best fitted curve. {A}dditionally, slopes along reaches where two or more {VS}'s are defined can be provided. {C}omparisons between daily water discharges provided by in situ observations and rating curve estimates at three {VS}'s resulted in {RMS} errors from 9.9% to 26.9%, which are in accordance with previous experiences and acceptable for most hydrological applications. {R}iver bed slopes derived from both {ENVISAT} and {SRTM} were compared. {R}esults suggest that altimetric data provide more accurate slopes and it should be preferred whenever it is available.},
  keywords = {{H}ydrological modeling ; {R}adar altimetry ; {ENVISAT} ; {A}mazon basin ; {R}ating curve},
  booktitle = {},
  journal = {{J}ournal of {H}ydrology},
  volume = {379},
  numero = {3-4},
  pages = {205--219},
  ISSN = {0022-1694},
  year = {2009},
  DOI = {10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.09.049},
  URL = {https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010048450},
}