Evaluating the Accuracy of Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) Satellite Measurements for River Water Surface Elevation Anomalies
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Date
2024-12
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
This study was conducted to test the accuracy and water surface elevation anomalies of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite remote sensing measurements to USGS gauges located across four rivers, the Olentangy, Ohio, Maumee, and Muskingum from August 2023 to August 2024. To compare these anomalies, a Jupyter Lab notebook was created to gather the data from four different SWOT reaches, and USGS gauges to create a table of water surface elevation time series. Before the SWOT data can be plotted together, a filter is needed to distinguish the bad-quality data from the good-quality data the satellite may have collected. Two plots were created for each river, filtered SWOT data with USGS gauge data and unfiltered SWOT data with USGS gauge data. Unfiltered is all the data that the SWOT time series outputs. After filtering the SWOT data, it is plotted with the USGS gauge data (after subtracting their initial values). All data from the Olentangy and Muskingum rivers was filtered out and deemed unsuitable for analysis. The Ohio River had an RMSE (root square mean error) value of 0.27 m and the Maumee River had an RMSE of 1.36 m. The RMSE pertains to the typical differences between the gauge and SWOT data. In conclusion, all river data undergoes filtering, but only a subset meets the necessary quality standards. From the available filtered data, the results exceed the scientific requirements.