Radar altimetry

June 7, 1983 Venera 16, orbiter Oct. 14, 1983, orbit entry. Radar imaging from N. pole to 30° N, radar altimetry, and atm. spectroscopy expts. (Barsukov et al., 1992 Bougher et al., 1997)... 

Direct satellite measurements of sea level are possible from radar altimetry, which have provided reliable, regular, and weather-independent data since October 1992, by which time separation of the Aral Sea into two parts had already occurred. Data of altimetry from the T/P and J1 satellites for tracing variatimi of the Aral Sea level has been used in several research papers [7,16-20]. Ground tracks of T/P (since August 2002 replaced by Jason-1) and J1 over the Aral Sea are shown in Fig. 4. 

Satellite remote sensing also allowed the estimating of several physical and hydrological parameters of the Aral Sea and its watershed basin [19]. For example, the volume variations of the Aral Sea have been calculated by combination of optical satellite imagery and in situ water level [32]. More recently [16, 23] have estimated the volume variation of the Large and Small Aral by combination of a precise digital bathymetry map (DBM) of the basin, with level variation deduced from satellite radar altimetry, for the period 1993-2004. 

Cretaux J-F, Birkett C (2006) Lake studies from satellite radar altimetry. C R Geosciences 338 1098-1112... 

Keywords Aral Sea, Ice cover. Spatial and temporal variability, Radar altimetry, Radiometry, Air temperature. Salinity... 

Kouraev AV, Shimaraev MN, Buharizin PL Naumenko MA, Cretaux J-F, Mognard NM, Legresy B, Remy F (2008) Ice and snow cover of continental water bodies from simultaneous radar altimetry and radiometry observatirais. Survey in Geophysics - Thematic issue Hydrology from space , doi 10.1007/sl0712-008-9042-2... 

Fig. 3.4 Venus Meat Mons, an 8 km high volcano. Magellan synthetic aperture radar data is combined with radar altimetry to develop a three-dimensional map of the surface. NASA, Magellan Mission...

The Pioneer Venus mission provided the first radar imaging and altimetry of Venus surface from synthetic aperture radar on an orbiting spacecraft. Subsequently, the Venera 15 and 16 orbiters also carried out radar imaging and altimetry of part of Venus northern hemisphere. Orbital spacecraft radar observations of Venus culminated with the very successful Magellan mission in the early 1990s. 

May 4, 1989 Magellan, orbiter Orhit insertion Aug. 10, 1990, radar mapping, altimetry, emissivity data for surface radio occultation expts. atm. science, end of mission and loss of orhiter Oct. 12/13, 1994 see J. Geophys. Res. 97, Aug. 25 Oct. 25, 1992. 

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