HR: 15:20h
AN: U53B-05    [Abstracts]
TI: Drought, Wetland, and Flood Monitoring with Satellite Scatterometer
AU: * Nghiem, S V
EM: Son.V.Nghiem@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 300-235, Pasadena, CA 91109, United States
AU: Brakenridge, G R
EM: G.Robert.Brakenridge@Dartmouth.EDU
AF: Dartmouth Flood Observatory, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, United States
AU: Neumann, G
EM: Gregory.Neumann@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 300-235, Pasadena, CA 91109, United States
AB: Monitoring droughts, wetlands, and floods demands large scale and frequent coverage by satellite observations. Launched in 1999, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) SeaWinds scatterometer aboard the QuikSCAT (QSCAT) satellite can collect backscatter data over 90% of the world in a day. The satellite scatterometer has acquired about 8 years of data and is currently measuring the Earth in 14 orbits per day. For drought monitoring, QSCAT data can detect surface soil moisture change and corresponding vegetation change. QSCAT identified drought conditions in the Midwest region of the United States in 2003 as the precipitation frequency observed by QSCAT decreases significantly. In Nairobi, Kenya, long-term QSCAT monitoring shows the severe droughts of 2000 and 2005. QSCAT data will be used together with other data types to enhance the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) to be transitioned into the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS). At the other extreme, QSCAT data reveal the timing and patterns of surface soil moisture changes associated with winter storms in California in 2005 and with extreme hurricanes such as Ivan in 2004, Katrina, and Rita in 2005. Flood inundated areas are delineated by QSCAT along the Lena River, and such flooding is related to the snowmelt duration. QSCAT observations show that the Flood of Century along the Lena River in 2001 occurred after an excessively rapid spring melt period. QSCAT data are appropriate for wetland monitoring. The dynamics of wetlands in the Mississippi River basin observed by QSCAT include river discharge lagging the wetland change: first excess surface water is measured, and then streamflow increases. QSCAT data also capture the extreme seasonal wetland dynamics over the region of the Sudd swamps along the upper reaches of the White Nile River in southern Sudan. With the QSCAT capability in monitoring drought, wetland, and flood frequently over the world, QSCAT results will be crucial for incorporation into the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) for decision support and disaster mitigation.
DE: 1812 Drought
DE: 1821 Floods
DE: 1848 Monitoring networks
DE: 1855 Remote sensing (1640)
DE: 1890 Wetlands (0497)
SC: Union [U]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly