176 WETLANDS, Vol. 25, No. 1, March 2005, pp. 176–191  2005, The Society of Wetland Scientists REMOTE MONITORING OF REGIONAL INUNDATION PATTERNS AND HYDROPERIOD IN THE GREATER EVERGLADES USING SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR Laura L. Bourgeau-Chavez 1 , Kevin B. Smith 2 , Suzanne M. Brunzell 3 , Eric S. Kasischke 4 , Edwin A. Romanowicz 5 , and Curtis J. Richardson 6 1 Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM) Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA 48105 Present address: Terrestrial and Ocean Applications Ann Arbor Research and Development Center (formerly ERIM) General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems 3300 Plymouth Road Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA 48105 2 Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM) Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA 48105 Present address: Ducks Unlimited Western Regional Office 3074 Gold Canal Drive Rancho Cordova, California, USA 95670 3 Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM) Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA 48105 Present address: Snohomish County Public Works 2731 Wetmore Ave Suite 300 Everett, Washington, USA 98201–3581 4 Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM) Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA 48105 Present address: Department of Geography 2181 LeFrak Hall College Park, Maryland, USA 20742 5 Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences Duke University Durham, North Carolina, USA Present address: Center for Earth and Environmental Sciences State University of New York Plattsburgh, New York, USA 6 Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences Duke University Durham, North Carolina, USA Abstract: Understanding the hydrologic patterns in vast wetland ecosystems has proven to be a difficult task. Most of the world’s wetland ecosystems are not adequately monitored for water level, flow, or dis- charge, and where these are monitored, gauges are usually located on the largest rivers or lakes and canals rather than in the seasonally flooded areas. Even those wetlands that have the most extensive networks of gauges are not sufficiently covered to understand the finer-scale spatial dynamics of hydrologic condition. However, high-density in situ monitoring of stage, flow, and discharge of vast wetland complexes would be prohibitively expensive, even in a region such as south Florida, USA where considerable resources are devoted to water management. Several techniques are presented that were developed to use Synthetic Ap- erture Radar (SAR) satellite imagery to remotely detect, monitor, and map regional scale spatial and temporal