Validation of Sentinel 3A Altimetry Data for River Level Monitoring at Two Locations Along the Lower Indus River

Indus River is one of the largest rivers of Asia that runs through four countries (China, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan) and supports multiple economic activities in the region. Sindh Province of Pakistan is at the tail-end of the River. River monitoring, though essential to manage it well, is a necessity for the tail-enders to ascertain the availability of water and to distribute it among its users. The Sindh province depends mostly on the Indus River supply to meet its demand. The River irrigates Sindh 2540 hectares culturable area. Besides agriculture, industrial and domestic water users also greatly rely on the river water supply. The optimum management of the River necessitates an extensive network of gauge stations. Whereas, the Indus River has minimal gauging network. This paper presents the potential of satellite radar altimetry by using Sentinel 3A data to monitor river water levels. This paper validates the satellite data by comparing them with the in-situ data near the Guddu and Sukkur Barrages. The results showed an excellent agreement between the two datasets with correlations higher than 0.9, and the root mean square difference (RMSD) less than 45 cm for both locations.