Remote Sensing Applications in Water Resources and the Global Energy and Water Exchanges Project

Abstract:

The Global Water and Energy Exchanges project (GEWEX) as part of the World Climate Research Programme has developed in 2013 a new set of science questions and imperatives with one set focusing in particular on the human component in the global water cycle and water resources management. In the past GEWEX primarily focused solely on the geophysical aspects of the water cycle and ignored to a great extent the human influences on it. The increased human interactions with the environment as well as the water cycle at both a local and global scale cannot be ignored any longer, in particular to analyse and interpret observations, improve models and process descriptions and to make more accurate predictions with less uncertainty. The model development has currently progressed to a stage where human interactions and processes can be better described and incorporated though much still remains to be done. One of the biggest challenges in incorporating human interactions into hydrological models and tools is to obtain the required observations, data and information. Water resource management decisions are based upon both geophysical conditions as well as socio-economic circumstances and in many cases also the individual decision makers state of being. To observe and model such processes requires expertise from a multitude of disciplines that are only now are beginning to collaborate more intensely. Another example of where obtaining the required information is tedious and often suspect is in transboundary water systems where this type of information can have direct geopolitical and socio-economical consequences. Earth observation in particular new or more advanced systems can help alleviate some of these issues. For GEWEX the challenge comes with an upside in that the models that incorporate the human component will also have more and better applicability. In this presentation several examples of application of new earth observing systems will be explored with an emphasis on the human interaction as well as in what way these can lead to applications beyond the scientific field.