Automatic Detection of Inland Water Bodies Along Altimetry Tracks Using Radar Backscattering

Radar altimetry is commonly used to derive water levels over inland water bodies. If lakes and rivers are increasingly covered with radar altimetry virtual stations, wetlands and floodplains are still poorly monitored using this technique. In this study, an unsupervised classification of Ku-band radar altimetry backscattering coefficients from ENVISAT and Jason-2 is performed in the Congo Cuvette Centrale. Comparisons performed against a classification map of the study area shows a good agreement between the water and vegetation classes of the two datasets. Based on these results, radar altimetry-derived water levels are automatically derived over the water classes. Comparisons against radar altimetry-based water stages from Hydroweb database exhibits also a good agreement.