Observing storm surges in the Bay of Bengal from satellite altimetry

In the present study we examined 15 years (1993-2007) of satellite altimeter and coastal tide-gauge records in the Bay of Bengal and demonstrate that satellite altimetry can be a useful complementary dataset for the study of storm surges. We first examined the performance of X-TRACK-processed altimeter data. During the period of study (1993-2007), 30 (19), 21 (09), 10 (07), and 07 (01) storm surge events were identified from tide gauges (altimetry) at Hiron Point, Paradip, Visakhapatnam and Chennai respectively. The magnitudes of surges observed by altimeters are comparable to those recorded in tide gauges. Though observing storm surges by altimeters rely purely on a chance, the presence of multiple satellite tracks in a region considerably enhances the chances of capturing the signals of an extreme event. Moreover, information on cross-shelf variations of storm surges is useful for model validation.