Abstract's details
A Benchmark Dataset of Water Levels and Waves for SWOT Calibration and Validation: Insights from the St. Lawrence Estuary and Saguenay Fjord
Event: 2025 SWOT Science Team Meeting
Session: Afternoon Plenary Session: Deltas, Estuaries and Coasts
Presentation type: Oral
The St. Lawrence Estuary and Saguenay Fjord (Quebec, Canada) form a macro-tidal, seasonally ice-covered system exhibiting strong spatial and temporal gradients in water surface dynamics due to the interaction of tides, river discharge, internal waves, and complex bathymetry. During the SWOT mission’s Calibration/Validation (Cal/Val) phase (April–July 2023), this region was advantageously located under the fast-sampling orbit, acquiring near-daily, high-resolution KaRIn observations along a ~300 km reach of the estuary.
To support SWOT validation and enable new scientific investigations, we assembled a comprehensive multi-sensor dataset combining in-situ and remote sensing measurements. The dataset includes tide gauges and wave buoys, GNSS-IR sensors, HF radars, ADCPs, airborne LiDAR and AirSWOT measurements, and satellite altimetry (RCM, Sentinel), spanning both the pre- and post-launch Cal/Val and Science phases of SWOT. These observations were co-located in time and space with SWOT overpasses to provide reference measurements of water surface elevation, slope, and surface wave variability under various environmental conditions, including ice and storm events.
Building on this dataset, we apply an advanced harmonic analysis approach tailored to short and/or sparsely sampled SWOT records, blending tide gauge information to achieve super-resolution of non-stationary tides. Particular attention is given to the fluvial–estuarine transition zone (FETZ), where conventional observations are spatially sparse and physical processes are nonlinear and nonstationary.
This curated dataset represents one of the most complete field observation efforts ever conducted in a cold-region estuary for satellite altimetry, offering a valuable resource for validating SWOT performance and improving our understanding of estuarine hydrodynamics. It is designed to support cross-comparisons with models and to advance coastal altimetry applications.
Back to the list of abstractTo support SWOT validation and enable new scientific investigations, we assembled a comprehensive multi-sensor dataset combining in-situ and remote sensing measurements. The dataset includes tide gauges and wave buoys, GNSS-IR sensors, HF radars, ADCPs, airborne LiDAR and AirSWOT measurements, and satellite altimetry (RCM, Sentinel), spanning both the pre- and post-launch Cal/Val and Science phases of SWOT. These observations were co-located in time and space with SWOT overpasses to provide reference measurements of water surface elevation, slope, and surface wave variability under various environmental conditions, including ice and storm events.
Building on this dataset, we apply an advanced harmonic analysis approach tailored to short and/or sparsely sampled SWOT records, blending tide gauge information to achieve super-resolution of non-stationary tides. Particular attention is given to the fluvial–estuarine transition zone (FETZ), where conventional observations are spatially sparse and physical processes are nonlinear and nonstationary.
This curated dataset represents one of the most complete field observation efforts ever conducted in a cold-region estuary for satellite altimetry, offering a valuable resource for validating SWOT performance and improving our understanding of estuarine hydrodynamics. It is designed to support cross-comparisons with models and to advance coastal altimetry applications.