Monitoring reservoir water elevation changes using Jason-2/3 altimetry satellite missions: exploring the capabilities of JASTER (Jason-2/3 Altimetry Stand-Alone Tool for Enhanced Research)

In the absence of in-situ data, satellite radar altimetry, critical for studies requiring water elevation data, faces challenges in outlier removal over reservoirs, influenced by surrounding land. We present JASTER (Jason Altimetry Stand-Alone Tool for Enhanced Research), an open-source, fully autom...

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Main Authors: Natalya Ross, Amirhossein Rostami, Hyongki Lee, Chi-Hung Chang, Faisal Hossain, Pietro Milillo, Tien L. T. Du, Susantha Jayasinghe, Peeranan Towashiraporn
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2024-12-01
Series:International Journal of Digital Earth
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Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17538947.2024.2406387
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author Natalya Ross
Amirhossein Rostami
Hyongki Lee
Chi-Hung Chang
Faisal Hossain
Pietro Milillo
Tien L. T. Du
Susantha Jayasinghe
Peeranan Towashiraporn
author_facet Natalya Ross
Amirhossein Rostami
Hyongki Lee
Chi-Hung Chang
Faisal Hossain
Pietro Milillo
Tien L. T. Du
Susantha Jayasinghe
Peeranan Towashiraporn
author_sort Natalya Ross
collection DOAJ
description In the absence of in-situ data, satellite radar altimetry, critical for studies requiring water elevation data, faces challenges in outlier removal over reservoirs, influenced by surrounding land. We present JASTER (Jason Altimetry Stand-Alone Tool for Enhanced Research), an open-source, fully automated tool processing Jason-2/3 altimetry data for water elevation time series generation over a user-defined inland water body. JASTER uses two outlier removal approaches. The first method employs interquartile range (IQR)-based filtering and K-means clustering. The second method incorporates water occurrence (WO) and Digital Elevation Model (DEM)-derived elevation thresholds. The Hampel filter embedded in JASTER further removes non-physical peaks in the time series caused by signal noise. We validated JASTER’s capabilities using 44 Jason altimeter crossings over 37 water bodies in the US and Canada. We assessed the significance of applying water occurrence and elevation thresholds, and investigated how the Hampel filter parameters and satellite crossing lengths affect accuracy. In all case studies, the Hampel filter significantly increased the consistency between JASTER-derived water elevations and in-situ data. Moreover, the DEM + WO-based method outperformed the IQR-based outlier removal approach in some cases where the greater number of altimeter footprints belonged to land instead of water.
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spelling doaj-art-246b4e2a3c084a9aafade87b528c144f2025-08-20T01:54:34ZengTaylor & Francis GroupInternational Journal of Digital Earth1753-89471753-89552024-12-0117110.1080/17538947.2024.2406387Monitoring reservoir water elevation changes using Jason-2/3 altimetry satellite missions: exploring the capabilities of JASTER (Jason-2/3 Altimetry Stand-Alone Tool for Enhanced Research)Natalya Ross0Amirhossein Rostami1Hyongki Lee2Chi-Hung Chang3Faisal Hossain4Pietro Milillo5Tien L. T. Du6Susantha Jayasinghe7Peeranan Towashiraporn8Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USADepartment of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USADepartment of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USADepartment of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USADepartment of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USADepartment of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USADepartment of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USASERVIR Southeast Asia, Bangkok, ThailandSERVIR Southeast Asia, Bangkok, ThailandIn the absence of in-situ data, satellite radar altimetry, critical for studies requiring water elevation data, faces challenges in outlier removal over reservoirs, influenced by surrounding land. We present JASTER (Jason Altimetry Stand-Alone Tool for Enhanced Research), an open-source, fully automated tool processing Jason-2/3 altimetry data for water elevation time series generation over a user-defined inland water body. JASTER uses two outlier removal approaches. The first method employs interquartile range (IQR)-based filtering and K-means clustering. The second method incorporates water occurrence (WO) and Digital Elevation Model (DEM)-derived elevation thresholds. The Hampel filter embedded in JASTER further removes non-physical peaks in the time series caused by signal noise. We validated JASTER’s capabilities using 44 Jason altimeter crossings over 37 water bodies in the US and Canada. We assessed the significance of applying water occurrence and elevation thresholds, and investigated how the Hampel filter parameters and satellite crossing lengths affect accuracy. In all case studies, the Hampel filter significantly increased the consistency between JASTER-derived water elevations and in-situ data. Moreover, the DEM + WO-based method outperformed the IQR-based outlier removal approach in some cases where the greater number of altimeter footprints belonged to land instead of water.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17538947.2024.2406387Satellite altimetrywater elevation time seriesoutlier detectionHampel filterwater occurrencedigital elevation model
spellingShingle Natalya Ross
Amirhossein Rostami
Hyongki Lee
Chi-Hung Chang
Faisal Hossain
Pietro Milillo
Tien L. T. Du
Susantha Jayasinghe
Peeranan Towashiraporn
Monitoring reservoir water elevation changes using Jason-2/3 altimetry satellite missions: exploring the capabilities of JASTER (Jason-2/3 Altimetry Stand-Alone Tool for Enhanced Research)
International Journal of Digital Earth
Satellite altimetry
water elevation time series
outlier detection
Hampel filter
water occurrence
digital elevation model
title Monitoring reservoir water elevation changes using Jason-2/3 altimetry satellite missions: exploring the capabilities of JASTER (Jason-2/3 Altimetry Stand-Alone Tool for Enhanced Research)
title_full Monitoring reservoir water elevation changes using Jason-2/3 altimetry satellite missions: exploring the capabilities of JASTER (Jason-2/3 Altimetry Stand-Alone Tool for Enhanced Research)
title_fullStr Monitoring reservoir water elevation changes using Jason-2/3 altimetry satellite missions: exploring the capabilities of JASTER (Jason-2/3 Altimetry Stand-Alone Tool for Enhanced Research)
title_full_unstemmed Monitoring reservoir water elevation changes using Jason-2/3 altimetry satellite missions: exploring the capabilities of JASTER (Jason-2/3 Altimetry Stand-Alone Tool for Enhanced Research)
title_short Monitoring reservoir water elevation changes using Jason-2/3 altimetry satellite missions: exploring the capabilities of JASTER (Jason-2/3 Altimetry Stand-Alone Tool for Enhanced Research)
title_sort monitoring reservoir water elevation changes using jason 2 3 altimetry satellite missions exploring the capabilities of jaster jason 2 3 altimetry stand alone tool for enhanced research
topic Satellite altimetry
water elevation time series
outlier detection
Hampel filter
water occurrence
digital elevation model
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17538947.2024.2406387
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