No abstract

[1] Satellite radar altimetry has the ability to monitor variations in surface water height (stage) for large wetlands, rivers, and associated floodplains. A clear advantage is the provision of data where traditional gauges are absent. As part of an international program, a complete altimetric analysis of the Amazon Basin is being undertaken. Here, an updated and more rigorous evaluation of the TOPEX/POSEIDON (T/P) data set is presented for the first $7.5 years of the mission. With an initial study group of 230 targets, height variability at many ungauged locations can be observed for 30-50%, the range reflecting the clarity of the variations in lieu of instrument limitations. An assessment of the instrument performance confirms that the minimum river width attainable is $1 km in the presence of some inundated floodplain. This constraint does allow observation of the main stem (Solimões/Amazon) and the larger tributaries, but rugged terrain in the vicinity of the target additionally places severe limitations on data retrieval. First-order validation exercises with the deduced 1992-1999 time series of stage fluctuations reveal accuracies ranging from tens of centimeters to several meters (mean $1.1 m rms). Altimetric water levels in the Solimões and Amazon are particularly well defined with amplitudes <13 m and variations in peak-level timing from May to July. The water-surface gradient of the main stem is found to vary both spatially and temporally, with values ranging from 1.5 cm/km downstream to 4.0 cm/km for more upstream reaches. In agreement with ground-based estimates, the seasonal variability of the gradients reveals that the hysteresis characteristic of the flood wave varies along the main stem and the derived altimetric velocity of this flood wave is estimated to be $0.35 m/s. Overall, the altimetric results demonstrate that the T/P mission is successfully monitoring the transient flood waves of this continental-scale river basin.

Abstract. The transfer of water, sediment, and other materials to floodplains is a function of the hydrology of inundation. Inundation of floodplains by regional water, that is, overbank flow from the main river channel, and local water, that is, groundwater, hyporheic water, local tributary water, and direct precipitation onto the floodplain, is such that some rivers inundate dry floodplains, while other rivers inundate fully saturated floodplains. Remote sensing and field data from the large rivers Missouri, Mississippi, Amazon, Ob'-Irtysh, Taquari, and Altamaha show a variety of water types on inundated floodplains, including areas of mixing of river and local water defined as the "perirheic zone." For the rivers examined here, only the Missouri River flooded its entire valley with sediment-rich river water. Therefore the floodplains of these large rivers from the Arctic to the Amazon are only partially inundated with river water during floods and the corresponding perirheic zones may encompass a significant floodplain ecotone. Figure 2b is similar to that shown in Figure 2a, except for the presence of saturated soils or ponded water on the floodplain surface, which is perhaps due to local soil differences and recent intense rainfall. As the water rises, but does not overtop its banks, rain may continue to fall directly on the floodplain, and the floodplain would continue filling with local water. Although the river remains within its banks during the rising water period, large 1749

[1] We monitored summertime base flow water temperatures of hyporheic discharge to surface water in main, side, and spring channels located within the bank-full scour zone of the gravel-and cobble-bedded Umatilla River, Oregon, USA. Diel temperature cycles in hyporheic discharge were common, but spatially variable. Relative to the main channel's diel cycle, hyporheic discharge locations typically had similar daily mean temperatures, but smaller diel ranges (compressed by 2 to 6°C) and desynchronized phases (offset by 0 to 6 h). In spring channels (which received only hyporheic discharge), surface water diel cycles were also compressed (by 2 to 6°C) and desynchronized (by À4 to 6 h) relative to the main channel, creating diverse daytime and nighttime mosaics of surface water temperatures across main, side, and spring channels, despite only minor differences (<1°C) in daily mean temperatures among the channels. The river's hyporheic zone received and stored heat from the channel, yet hyporheic return flows carried heat back to the channel minutes to months after removal. Associated surface water temperature dynamics were therefore complex. Hyporheic discharge was not simply ''cooler'' or ''warmer'' than main channel water. Instead, instantaneous temperature differences between channel water and hyporheic discharge typically arose from diel temperature cycles in hyporheic discharge that were buffered and lagged relative to diel cycles in the main channel.

Measurements of water levels in the main channels of rivers, upland tributaries and floodplain lakes are necessary for understanding flooding hazards, methane production, sediment transport and nutrient exchange. But most remote river basins have only a few gauging stations and these tend to be restricted to large river channels. Although radar remote sensing techniques using interferometric phase measurements have the potential to greatly improve spatial sampling, the phase is temporally incoherent over open water and has therefore not been used to determine water levels. Here we use interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data, acquired over the central Amazon by the Space Shuttle imaging radar mission, to measure subtle water level changes in an area of flooded vegetation on the Amazon flood plain. The technique makes use of the fact that flooded forests and floodplain lakes with emergent shrubs permit radar double-bounce returns from water and vegetation surfaces, thus allowing coherence to be maintained. Our interferometric phase observations show decreases in water levels of 7-11 cm per day for tributaries and lakes within approximately 20 km of a main channel and 2-5 cm per day at distances of approximately 80 km. Proximal floodplain observations are in close agreement with main-channel gauge records, indicating a rapid response of the flood plain to decreases in river stage. With additional data from future satellite missions, the technique described here should provide direct observations important for understanding flood dynamics and hydrologic exchange between rivers and flood plains.