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ISSN 2070-7401 (Print), ISSN 2411-0280 (Online)
Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa
CURRENT PROBLEMS IN REMOTE SENSING OF THE EARTH FROM SPACE

  

Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa, 2026, V. 23, No. 2, pp. 304-319

Manifestation of river and lagoon outflows in SWOT satellite data

M.V. Vrublevsky 1 , O.Yu. Lavrova 1 
1 Space Research Institute RAS, Moscow, Russia
Accepted: 11.02.2026
DOI: 10.21046/2070-7401-2026-23-2-304-319
The innovative SWOT wide-swath altimetry satellite mission provides data on the topography of the World Ocean in the form of products with various resolutions, including 250 m. This resolution allows for the study of submesoscale processes at the ocean surface, whereas the use of radar frequencies makes it possible to study phenomena in cloudy conditions or limited light. The combination of mission advantages and insufficient temporal coverage of river and lagoon outflows study areas by other data stimulates research into the possibilities of using SWOT data for such tasks. Thus, in order to assess the applicability of SWOT satellite data for monitoring river and lagoon outflows, 813 observations of eight well-studied areas of river and lagoon outflows were analyzed, 145 manifestations of outflows were detected in the field of normalized radar cross section according to SWOT satellite data, of which 84 were verified. River and lagoon outflows were classified into four types. This study demonstrates for the first time the applicability of SWOT Ka-band interferometer normalized radar cross section data for monitoring river and lagoon outflows. The use of SWOT data significantly expands the possibilities for studying outflows, along with methods based on analysis of optical and radar image data.
Keywords: satellite altimetry, satellite interferometry, SWOT, KaRIn, river outflows, outflows from the bay
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