Uncertainty in Satellite Remote Sensing Derived Evapotranspiration Estimation: Current Status and Assessment Methods

Evapotranspiration (ET), a key variable in both water and energy cycles. It is very challenging to measure or estimate in large regions. Among many approaches to estimate ET indirectly (e.g. through hydrological modelling), models that are based on satellite remote sensing data (RS) are increasingly being used. However, the RS-based models...

Developing a pan-European high-resolution groundwater recharge map – Combining satellite data and national survey data using machine learning

Groundwater recharge quantification is essential for sustainable groundwater resources management, but typically limited to local and regional scale estimates. A high-resolution (1 km × 1 km) dataset consisting of long-term average actual evapotranspiration, effective precipitation, a groundwater recharge coefficient, and the resulting...

Spatiotemporal geostatistical analysis of precipitation combining ground and satellite observations

Precipitation data are useful for the management of water resources as well as flood and drought events. However, precipitation monitoring is sparse and often unreliable in regions with complicated geomorphology. Subsequently, the spatial variability of the precipitation distribution is frequently represented incorrectly. Satellite...

Satellite-based drought analysis in the Zambezi River Basin: Was the 2019 drought the most extreme in several decades as locally perceived?

Study region: The study area is the river basin upstream of the Kariba dam located in the Zambezi River at the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. Study focus: During the dry season of 2019 in Sub-Saharan Africa, extremely low water levels occurred in the Zambezi. According to news media, locals perceived this drought as the worst in several...

Variations in canopy cover and its relationship with canopy water and temperature in the miombo woodland based on satellite data

Understanding the canopy cover relationship with canopy water content and canopy temperature in the Miombo ecosystem is important for studying the consequences of climate change. To better understand these relationships, we studied the satellite data-based land surface temperature (LST) as proxy for canopy temperature, leaf area index (LAI),...

Satellite-based mitigation and adaptation scenarios for sea level rise on lower Niger delta

Accelerated sea level rise (SLR) is the most important climate change impact for coastal areas. However many coastal deltas lack necessary data for evaluation of the vulnerabilities. The Niger delta is one of the coastal areas with little data for coastal planning and management. <br/>Use of satellite data helps bridge the data gap by providing...

Short-term forecasting of solar irradiance without local telemetry: A generalized model using satellite data

Due to the increasing integration of solar power into the electrical grid, forecasting short-term solar irradiance has become key for many applications, e.g. operational planning, power purchases, reserve activation, etc. In this context, as solar generators are geographically dispersed and ground measurements are not always easy to obtain,...

Data assimilation for volcanic ash plumes using a satellite observational operator: A case study on the 2010 Eyjafjallajokull volcanic eruption

Using data assimilation (DA) to improve model forecast accuracy is a powerful approach that requires available observations. Infrared satellite measurements of volcanic ash mass loadings are often used as input observations for the assimilation scheme. However, because these primary satellite-retrieved data are often two-dimensional (2-D) and...