Remote Sensing Hydrology

The emergence of new optical sensors provides unique capability in comprehensive monitoring of the environment. As opposed to well-known optical satellite Earth observation systems such as the Landsat and Sentinel missions, there are now satellite systems dedicated to hydrological applications. The combination of geospatial science with these systems provides an innovative satellite hydrology framework that underpins our capability to directly monitor and assess changes in terrestrial stored water and how they are impacted by human actions and climate change. In this chapter, the concept of remote sensing hydrology has an emerging discipline is discussed. A distinction between remote sensing hydrology and application of remote sensing in hydrology is articulated. The latter has been the focus in the last few decades, leveraging several methods to aid the processing of Earth resources satellite for hydrological applications. However, new investments in satellite geodetic programmes (e.g., Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment mission) and the scheduled launch of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission in November 2022 gave birth to the former. These satellite geodetic systems are discipline-specific and dedicated hydrology missions, providing level 1 information on the quantitative aspects of freshwater resources. Together with novel computing technologies for big Earth observation data, they provide improved monitoring capabilities of the earth system that underpins our understanding of environmental processes and changes in hydrological systems.

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1. Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia Christopher Ndehedehe

1. Christopher Ndehedehe

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Ndehedehe, C. (2022). Remote Sensing Hydrology. In: Satellite Remote Sensing of Terrestrial Hydrology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99577-5_1

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