Atmospheric Correction Algorithms Assessment for Sentinel-2A Imagery over Inland Waters of China: Case Study, Qiandao Lake

Around 90% of the oceanic and inland waters’ reflectance registered in satellite detectors comes from the atmospheric contribution. Hence the water-leaving radiances in the Near-InfraRed (NIR) region are above the zero value over inland waters because of sediments and dissolved organic particles, this radiance cannot be ignored. To accurately...

Land surface modeling informed by earth observation data: toward understanding blue–green–white water fluxes in High Mountain Asia

Mountains are important suppliers of freshwater to downstream areas, affecting large populations in particular in High Mountain Asia (HMA). Yet, the propagation of water from HMA headwaters to downstream areas is not fully understood, as interactions in the mountain water cycle between the cryo-, hydro- and biosphere remain elusive. We review...

Surface Water Mapping and Flood Monitoring in the Mekong Delta Using Sentinel-1 SAR Time Series and Otsu Threshold

The annual flood and the alteration in hydrological regimes are the most vital concerns in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD). Although synthetic aperture radar (SAR) Sentinel-1 imagery is widely used for water management, only a few studies have used Sentinel-1 data for mapping surface water and monitoring flood events in the VMD. This study...

Quantification and Assessment of Global Terrestrial Water Storage Deficit Caused by Drought Using GRACE Satellite Data

A drought-induced water storage deficit index (D-WSDI) is proposed to quantify the response of GRACE-based terrestrial water storage change to meteorological drought and the impact of drought on water storage deficit. D-WSDI is defined as the normalized residual component of GRACE time-series data after removing the long-term trend and...

Multi-Source Hydrological Data Products to Monitor High Asian River Basins and Regional Water Security

This project explored the integrated use of satellite, ground observations and hydrological distributed models to support water resources assessment and monitoring in High Mountain Asia (HMA). Hydrological data products were generated taking advantage of the synergies of European and Chinese data assets and space-borne observation systems....

Constructing dataset of classified drainage areas based on surface water-supply patterns in High Mountain Asia

The High Mountain Asia (HMA) region, ranging from the Hindu Kush and Tien Shan in the west to the Himalaya in the south with an altitude between 2000 and 8844 m, holds the largest reservoir of glaciers and snow outside Earth Polar Regions. In the last decades, numerous glaciers and lake areas there have undergone tremendous changes with water...

Detecting the response of irrigation water management to climate by remote sensing monitoring of evapotranspiration

This study on a large irrigation scheme in Morocco addressed a two-fold question: (a) does the local water management authority adapt water releases to atmospheric water demand ET₀-P? and (b) does crop actual evapotranspiration respond to inter- and intra-annual variability in water releases? We have evaluated the inter-annual...

Remote sensing for crop water management: From ET modelling to services for the end users

The experiences gathered during the past 30 years support the operational use of irrigation scheduling based on frequent multi-spectral image data. Currently, the operational use of dense time series of multispectral imagery at high spatial resolution makes monitoring of crop biophysical parameters feasible, capturing crop water use across...

Hydrologic and cryospheric processes observed from space

Ten Dragon 3 projects deal with hydrologic and cryosphere processes, with a focus on the Himalayas and Qinghai – Tibet Plateau, but not limited to that. At the 1st Dragon 3 Progress Symposium in 2013 a significant potential for a better and deeper integration appeared very clearly and we worked out an overview of the ten projects identifying...

Monitoring of irrigation schemes by remote sensing: Phenology versus retrieval of biophysical variables

The appraisal of crop water requirements (CWR) is crucial for the management of water resources, especially in arid and semi-arid regions where irrigation represents the largest consumer of water, such as the Doukkala area, western Morocco. Simple and (semi) empirical approaches have been applied to estimate CWR: the first one is called Kc-NDVI...

Remote sensing estimation of vegetation moisture for the prediction of fire hazard

Various factors contribute to forest fire hazard, and among them vegetation moisture is the one that dictates susceptibility to fire ignition and propagation. The scientific community has developed a number of spectral indexes based on remote sensing measurements in the optical domain for the assessment of vegetation equivalent water thickness ...

TIGER capacity building facility: Growing from projects to professional community

Water security has become one of the most important challenges in the sustainable development of Africa, but only limited reliable information is available on the use and availability of water to support adequate planning and management of water resources. Data acquired from space can contribute to meet the urgent information need. But to...