Abstract's details
A SWOT-Based Climatology of Seasonal Variability in Southern Chilean Lakes.
Event: 2025 SWOT Science Team Meeting
Session: Hydrology: SWOT Lakes, Estuaries and Wetlands (SLEW)
Presentation type: Poster
Lakes in southern Chile, spanning latitudes 38°S to 46°S, are sensitive indicators of hydroclimatic variability, reflecting seasonal shifts in snowmelt, glacial runoff, and precipitation. Despite their hydrologic and ecological significance, a regional-scale understanding of their seasonal behavior remains elusive due to the scarcity of consistent, high-resolution observations. Leveraging the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission, this study presents the first climatology of seasonal lake variability in this complex Andean region, based solely on SWOT data.
We analyze a network of lakes—ranging from large systems like Llanquihue, Ranco, and General Carrera to smaller bodies exceeding 100 m²—using SWOT Level 2 LakeObs products. These provide spatially detailed, temporally discrete observations of water surface elevation (WSE) and lake extent, enabling the characterization of seasonal dynamics across multiple hydrologic years.
Our methodology includes: (1) extraction of SWOT-observed WSE and surface area for each SWOT pass; (2) construction of climatological profiles based on the aggregation of seasonal signals from multiple overpasses; and (3) spatial comparison of seasonal amplitude and phase across the lake network to identify latitudinal and topographic gradients in hydrologic response.
This SWOT-exclusive climatology captures seasonal variability with unprecedented spatial resolution, revealing the characteristic timing and magnitude of lake-level fluctuations across southern Chile. These results provide critical baseline information for future assessments of hydrologic change, and demonstrate the power of SWOT for monitoring lacustrine dynamics in mountainous, data-scarce environments.
Back to the list of abstractWe analyze a network of lakes—ranging from large systems like Llanquihue, Ranco, and General Carrera to smaller bodies exceeding 100 m²—using SWOT Level 2 LakeObs products. These provide spatially detailed, temporally discrete observations of water surface elevation (WSE) and lake extent, enabling the characterization of seasonal dynamics across multiple hydrologic years.
Our methodology includes: (1) extraction of SWOT-observed WSE and surface area for each SWOT pass; (2) construction of climatological profiles based on the aggregation of seasonal signals from multiple overpasses; and (3) spatial comparison of seasonal amplitude and phase across the lake network to identify latitudinal and topographic gradients in hydrologic response.
This SWOT-exclusive climatology captures seasonal variability with unprecedented spatial resolution, revealing the characteristic timing and magnitude of lake-level fluctuations across southern Chile. These results provide critical baseline information for future assessments of hydrologic change, and demonstrate the power of SWOT for monitoring lacustrine dynamics in mountainous, data-scarce environments.