ARSET - Monitoring Global Terrestrial Surface Water Height using Remote Sensing

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Oceans, lakes, and rivers are major components of Earth’s surface water. Freshwater lakes and rivers are primary sources of water supply for drinking, agriculture, energy, and transportation, and support aquatic ecosystems and wildlife. A series of NASA satellites (e.g., TOPEX-Poseidon, Jason 1, 2, 3, & 6) with altimeter observations have been used to estimate ocean surface and inland lake surface heights (> 50 km2) since 1992. The latest NASA mission, Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT), which was launched on December 16, 2022, allows the first ever mapping of global surface freshwater components, including rivers, lakes, and wetlands, with high-resolution measurements (~200 m). Environmental changes, land use, and other water supply and demand changes affect these freshwater sources. Particularly, rivers spanning multiple countries or states within countries pose challenges in estimating water availability and usage. The SWOT data provides unique capability of monitoring changes in freshwater, including…