Zhang et al. (2026) Evaluation of the accuracy of SWOT satellite observations for monitoring lake water levels in the Yangtze River Basin

Identification

• Journal: Scientific Reports
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-09-20
• Authors: Yu Zhang, Shijie Wang, Mindong Liao
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-72374-5

Research Groups

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
• Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES)
• Canadian Space Agency (CSA)
• UK Space Agency (UKSA)

Short Summary

This study evaluates the accuracy of SWOT satellite observations for monitoring lake water levels in the Yangtze River Basin, demonstrating that SWOT can substantially improve lake water level monitoring.

Objective

• Evaluate the capability of the SWOT satellite for lake water level retrieval and basin-scale hydrological monitoring.
• Assess the applicability of SWOT for basin-scale lake water level monitoring.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Global coverage with a spatial resolution of 100 m, focusing on the Yangtze River Basin in central and eastern China.
• Temporal Scale: November 2023 to May 2025, with a repeat cycle of 21 days for SWOT satellite observations.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: SWOT Level-2 high-resolution rasterized water surface elevation product (SWOT L2 HR Raster), ICESat-2 ATL13 inland water product, CryoSat-2 GDR data.
• Data sources: NASA Earthdata, National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), CryoSat-2 Science Server.

Main Results

• Valid observations were obtained for 501 lakes in the Yangtze River Basin, corresponding to a lake coverage rate of 97.7%.
• Most lakes accumulated more than 10 valid observations, with a maximum cumulative number of 72.
• SWOT showed good observation capability for lakes of different sizes and in different regions.

Contributions

• This study demonstrates that SWOT can substantially improve lake water level monitoring in the Yangtze River Basin.
• The results highlight the potential of SWOT for basin-scale hydrological monitoring and provide basic observational data for subsequent studies.

Funding

• Not specified in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Zhang2026Evaluation,
  author = {Zhang, Yu and Wang, Shijie and Liao, Mindong},
  title = {Evaluation of the accuracy of SWOT satellite observations for monitoring lake water levels in the Yangtze River Basin},
  journal = {Scientific Reports},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1038/s41598-026-72374-5},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-72374-5}
}