Estimating the Ebro river discharge at 1 km/daily resolution using indirect satellite observations

Abstract Estimating river discharge Q at global scale from satellite observations is not yet fully satisfactory in part because of limited space/time resolution. Furthermore, on highly anthropized basins, it is essential to anchor the analysis to reliable Q measurements. Gauge networks are however very sparse and limited in time, and SWOT (Surface Water Ocean Topography) river discharge estimates at global scale are not yet available. The method proposed here is able to obtain continuous daily Q estimates at 1 km/daily resolution, using indirect satellite data and ground-based estimates. We focus here on the Ebro. Over such an anthropized basin (e.g. change of land use, irrigation), the exploitation of 205 available gauges at their nominal resolution (i.e., daily point measurements) is a necessity. The hydrological Continuum model is used to help interpolate spatially and temporally the observations into our optimal interpolation scheme. The proposed Q -mapping is similar to an assimilation scheme were Earth observations (precipitation, evapotranspiration and total water storage change) and model simulations are constrained by in situ gauge measurements. The Q estimates are evaluated using a rigorous leave-one-out experiment, showing a good agreement with the in situ data: a correlation of 0.72 (median), and a 75th percentile of Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency up to 0.62. Our spatio-temporal continuous Q estimates at high spatial/temporal resolution can describe complex continental water dynamics, including extreme events. SWOT estimates will soon be available, at the global scale but with irregular space/time sampling: our method should help exploit them to obtain a regular space-temporal description of the water cycle at high resolution.