Fractal characterization of a hydrological basin using SAR satellite images

The authors propose a methodology to analyze self-similar organization of hydrological basins from satellite imagery and, more specifically, adapted to high-resolution radar images. They show that, when it is applied to several Amazonian rivers and lakes, it provides results in excellent agreement with the fractal theory. This allows them to suggest some novel relations between the river stream length, the river bed area, and the catchment basin area.