Hara et al. (2026) Observation of Daily Flood Hazard During the SWOT Cal/Val Orbit

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Geophysical Research Letters
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-10-15
• Authors: Yukina Hara, Dai Yamazaki, Megumi Watanabe, Colin Joseph Gleason, Shinjiro Kanae
• DOI: 10.1029/2026gl124074

Research Groups

• University of British Columbia, Department of Geography
• NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Canadian Space Agency

Short Summary

This study utilizes daily observations from the SWOT mission to track a short-lived flood along the Du Gouffre River in Canada, demonstrating the value of high-frequency wide-swath radar altimetry for monitoring transient floods.

Objective

• Investigate the capability of the SWOT mission to capture day-to-day changes in water surface elevation during a short-lived flood event.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Local scale, focusing on the Du Gouffre River and its surrounding area.
• Temporal Scale: Daily observations during the Calibration and Validation phase of the SWOT mission.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: None mentioned in the paper.
• Data sources: Satellite data from the SWOT mission, in situ measurements, and an independent post-event flood hazard map.

Main Results

• The SWOT mission successfully tracked day-to-day changes in water surface elevation during a short-lived flood event along the Du Gouffre River in Canada.
• A rapid rise of approximately 5 m was observed, consistent with in situ measurements.
• Partial spatial overlap was found between the derived flood extent and an independent post-event flood hazard map.

Contributions

• This study highlights the value of high-frequency wide-swath radar altimetry for monitoring transient floods, filling a gap in current remote sensing capabilities.

Funding

• NASA's Earth Science Division (Grant Number: 80NM0018D0004)
• Canadian Space Agency's Earth Observation Program (Project Code: ESA-2022-01)

Citation

@article{Hara2026Observation,
  author = {Hara, Yukina and Yamazaki, Dai and Watanabe, Megumi and Gleason, Colin Joseph and Kanae, Shinjiro},
  title = {Observation of Daily Flood Hazard During the SWOT Cal/Val Orbit},
  journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1029/2026gl124074},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2026gl124074}
}