Zakharova et al. (2025) Satellite altimetry over frozen rivers. Satellite altimetry and hydrodynamic model reproduce the ice jam conditions

Identification

• Journal: Advances in Space Research
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-12-02
• Authors: Elena Zakharova, Inna Krylenko, П.П. Головлев, Anastasia A. Lisina, Alexey Sazonov, N. K. Semenova, Alexei Kouraev
• DOI: 10.1016/j.asr.2025.11.121

Research Groups

• Water Problem Institute RAS (IWP RAN), Moscow, Russia
• EOLA ME, Toulouse, France
• Lomonossov State University, Moscow, Russia
• Université de Toulouse, LEGOS (CNES/CNRS/IRD/UT3), Toulouse, France

Short Summary

This study demonstrates that satellite altimetry, combined with hydrodynamic models, can accurately reproduce river ice jam conditions and explains that altimetric signals over frozen rivers can reflect from either the ice-water or ice-air interface, accounting for observed variability and inconsistencies in winter water surface elevation retrievals in Arctic rivers.

Objective

• To investigate how satellite altimetry observations, combined with numerical hydrodynamic models, can be used to retrieve water height over frozen river surfaces and model water dynamics in Arctic rivers during winter, specifically addressing the mechanisms behind interannual variability and inconsistencies in winter Water Surface Elevation (WSE) retrievals and the capability of altimetry to reproduce ice jam conditions.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Arctic rivers (general).
• Temporal Scale: Winter conditions, interannual variability.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: MIKE 11DHI (one-dimensional hydrodynamic model), STREAM 2D (two-dimensional hydrodynamic model).
• Data sources: Sentinel-3B satellite altimetry observations, Jason-3 satellite altimetry observations.

Main Results

• Depending on river ice conditions, the main altimetric signal over frozen river surfaces can be reflected from either the ice-water or the ice-air interface.
• This dual reflection mechanism explains the interannual variability of winter Water Surface Elevation (WSE) retrievals that are not related to river runoff.
• It also accounts for inconsistencies often observed in satellite winter WSE observations at adjacent virtual stations in the Arctic.
• Satellite altimetry is demonstrated to be capable of correctly reproducing river ice jam conditions.
• Limitations in applying nadir altimetry to study ice jams and associated inundations are primarily due to poor temporal and spatial coverage of rivers by altimetric tracks, rather than shortcomings in technology or algorithms.

Contributions

• This is the first study to demonstrate that satellite altimetry is capable of correctly reproducing river ice jam conditions.
• Provides a novel explanation for the interannual variability and inconsistencies observed in winter Water Surface Elevation (WSE) retrievals over frozen Arctic rivers.
• Highlights that the primary limitation of nadir altimetry for ice jam studies is data coverage, not the altimetry technology itself.

Funding

• Not explicitly mentioned in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Zakharova2025Satellite,
  author = {Zakharova, Elena and Krylenko, Inna and Головлев, П.П. and Lisina, Anastasia A. and Sazonov, Alexey and Semenova, N. K. and Kouraev, Alexei},
  title = {Satellite altimetry over frozen rivers. Satellite altimetry and hydrodynamic model reproduce the ice jam conditions},
  journal = {Advances in Space Research},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1016/j.asr.2025.11.121},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2025.11.121}
}