State of knowledge + capability for remote sensing for water applications

The use of remote sensing for operational purposes in hydrology, and water resources, while not new, is a fast-growing field. However, remote sensing requires familiarity with an entire new set of technologies and expertise and needs to be adapted for application to management strategies. Given satellite imagery data accessibility and affordability is improving rapidly, it is timely for the water industry to learn more about this advanced capability and opportunities for its application to water resources and hydrological challenges, and potential operations.

The water industry needs to understand changes occurring at large spatial scales, or in difficult to physically access locations and across various time scales. Climate change and rapid urbanization will increase the need for such ability. Due to expense and impracticality, the water industry increasingly needs to rely upon remote sensing. Hence, the water industry ideally needs access to on-demand remote sensing products (and guidance in their use) for decision support and planning, but also the ability to commission or undertake ad-hoc analyses.

The aim of this project will be to provide:

• A desktop summary of existing capabilities and tools currently available, investigating advantages and disadvantages of these technologies and their applications
• Guidance on technique or tool selection e.g. efficacy or applicability of drone data capture versus use of satellites