APPLICATION OF SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR METHODS FOR MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE SALAR DE UYUNI DISTAL FLUVIAL SYSTEM

Knowledge of the present-day activity of river channels in distal fluvial systems strongly contributes to the reconstruction of past branching and avulsion processes. Established remote sensing techniques can be applied to monitor the formation of flooding planes (crevasse splays) and channel activity. In this research variations in the amplitude in Synthetic Aperture Radar images are interpreted as soil moisture changes. Interferometric SAR showed minor phase changes during dry season and loss of coherence after peak run-off. After peak discharge during the dry season in 2009 reactivation of multiple avulsed river paths and crevasse channels was detected. These results show that analysis of SAR images can contribute to the monitoring of fluvial systems. It is expected that these initial results will be confirmed by field data and analysis of alternative remote sensing data sources. © 2012 IEEE.