Remote Sensing in Hydrology and Water Management

The authors of this book have been approached by consulting engineers: "You know about remote sensing and thus you can obtain hydrological information where no data exist, even without ground measurements, so that I can design the required capacity of a drinking water supply reservoir in a developing country. " On the other hand, the authors have been told: "Remote sensing is not of much use since it is still impossible to estimate ground water resources or surface water flows from remote sensing data. " The major aim of this book is to correct such unjustified illusions as well as exaggerated criticism by providing the reader with sound information on the potential - and the limitations - of remote sensing in the field of hydrology and water management. The book is meant to be a reference and text; it is not a collection of papers from some meeting. The book is intended to provide methods to help the readers solve their own problems in hydrology and water management. Therefore, scientific issues are presented only as far as they are necessary for the application of remote sensing. The reader will see that in some fields, (e. g. evapotranspiration, soil moisture, hydrological modeling) the scientific development is still on the way, while in others operational techniques are already available (e. g. snow melt run­ off-model, land use classification and detection of land use changes, flood fore­ casting and control).

Preface.- About the Editors.- Authors.- Section I: Overview and Basic Principles.- 1 Introduction.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 Remote Sensing Defined.- 1.3 The Nature of Remote Sensing Data.- 1.4 Satellite Systems.- 1.4.1 Remote Sensing Platforms.- 1.4.2 Remote Sensing Sensors.- 1.4.3 Spatial Resolution.- 1.4.4 Temporal Resolution.- 1.5 Remote Sensing and Hydrology.- 1.6 Structure of the Book.- 2 Physical Principles and Technical Aspects of Remote Sensing.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 The Electromagnetic Spectrum and Radiation Laws.- 2.3 Atmospheric Propagation.- 2.4 Reflection and Emission Characteristics of Natural Media.- 2.5 Sensor Principles.- 2.6 Summary of Current and Future Earth Observation Missions.- 3 Processing Remotely Sensed Data: Hardware and Software Considerations.- 3.1 Image Processing System Characteristics.- 3.1.1 The Central Processing Unit (CPU): Personal Computers, Workstations and Mainframes.- 3.1.2 Number of Analysts on a System and Mode of Operation.- 3.1.3 Serial versus Parallel Image Processing, Arithmetic Coprocessor, and Random Access Memory (RAM).- 3.1.4 Operating System and Software Compilers.- 3.1.5 Mass Storage.- 3.1.6 Screen Display Resolution.- 3.1.7 Screen Color Resolution.- 3.1.8 Image Scanning (Digitization) Considerations.- 3.2 Image Processing and GIS Software Requirement.- 3.2.1 Preprocessing.- 3.2.2 Display and Enhancement.- 3.2.3 Remote Sensing Information Extraction.- 3.2.4 Photogrammetric Information Extraction.- 3.2.5 Metadata and Image/Map Lineage Documentation.- 3.2.6 Image and Map Cartographic Composition.- 3.2.7 Geographic Information Systems (GIS).- 3.2.8 Utilities.- 3.3 Commercial and Publicly Available Digital Image Processing Systems.- 3.4 Summary.- 4 Integration of Remotely Sensed Data into Geographical Information Systems.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.2 General Approach.- 4.2.1 Raster and Vector Data Structures.- 4.2.2 Current Approaches to the Integration.- 4.2.3 Errors Associated with Geographical Processing.- 4.3 Current Applications.- 4.3.1 Watershed Database Development.- 4.3.2 Integrated Use of Elevation Data.- 4.3.3 Land-use/Land-cover Change Detection.- 4.3.4 Modeling Watershed Runoff.- 4.3.5 Monitoring and Modeling of Water Quality.- 4.3.6 Soil Erosion Monitoring.- 4.4 Future Perspectives.- Section II: Remote Sensing Application to Hydrologic Monitoring and Modeling.- 5 Remote Sensing in Hydrological Modeling.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 Remote Sensing in Operational Hydrologic Modeling.- 5.3 Remote Sensing in Coupled Water-Energy Balance Modeling.- 5.4 Remote Sensing Approach.- 5.4.1 Solar radiation.- 5.4.2 Do wnwelling longwave.- 5.4.3 Precipitation.- 5.4.4 Air Temperature.- 5.4.5 Surface Air Humidity.- 5.5 Modeling Example: The Red River Arkansas Basin.- 5.6 Future Directions.- Colour Plates of Chaps. 2–5.- 6 Precipitation 1ll.- 6.1 Introduction.- 6.2 General Approach.- 6.2.1 Ground-based radar.- 6.2.2 Use of visible and infrared satellite data.- 6.2.3 Use of passive microwave satellite data.- 6.2.4 Space-borne radar.- 6.3 Current Techniques.- 6.3.1 Single polarisation radar measurements of rainfall.- 6.3.2 Measurement of snowfall and hail.- 6.3.3 Multi-parameter radar.- 6.3.4 Satellite cloud indexing and life history methods of rainfall estimation.- 6.3.5 Bispectral techniques.- 6.3.6 Passive microwave estimates of rainfall from space.- 6.3.7 Sampling errors.- 6.4 The potential for improvement.- 6.4.1 Current performance levels.- 6.4.2 The future.- 7 Land-use and Catchment Characteristics.- 7.1 Introduction.- 7.2 Land cover Mapping with Remote Sensing.- 7.3 Vegetation Indices.- 7.3.1 Simple Vegetation Indices.- 7.3.2 Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI).- 7.3.3 Refined estimates.- 7.3.4 Multi-temporal Vegetation Index.- 7.4 Thematic Classification.- 7.4.1 Image Classification Methods.- 7.4.2 Maximum Likelihood Classification.- 7.4.3 Discussion.- 7.4.4 Probability estimation refinements.- 7.4.5 Segmentation.- 7.4.6 Case study in the Pantanal Area, Brazil.- 7.5 Radar.- 8 Evaporation.- 8.1. Introduction.- 8.1.1 General.- 8.1.2 Remote sensing of land evaporation.- 8.2 Evaporation and radiometric variables.- 8.2.1 Potential Evaporation.- 8.2.2 Actual Evaporation.- 8.3 Remote Sensing of Land Evaporation: Applications and Modelling Approaches.- 8.3.1 General.- 8.3.2 Linear relationships between evaporation and land surface temperature [1].- 8.3.3 Improved linear relationships [2].- 8.3.4 Relationships between evaporation, surface, temperature and spectral indices [3].- 8.3.5 Soil Vegetation Atmosphere Transfer (SVAT) models [4].- 8.3.6 Integrated SVAT and Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) models [5].- 8.4 Current trends: improved observations and improved parameterizations.- 8.4.1 Local maximum evaporation and land surface temperature [6].- 8.4.2 Improved observation of land surface variables [7].- 8.5 Spatial variability.- 8.6 Accuracy.- 8.7 Applications.- 8.8 Current and Future Observations.- 8.9 Summary and Conclusions.- Colour Plates of Chaps. 6–8.- 9 Soil Moisture.- 9.1 Introduction.- 9.2 General Approach.- 9.3 Sensor-Target Interactions.- 9.4 Hydrologic Examples.- 9.5 Future Microwave Remote Sensing of Soil Moisture.- 10 Remote Sensing of Surface Water.- 10.1 Introduction.- 10.2 Surface Water Detection.- 10.3 Lake and Reservoir Area Estimates.- 10.4 Wetlands.- 10.5 Lake Levels.- 10.6 River Levels and Flows.- 10.7 Flood Extent.- 10.8 Conclusion.- 11 Snow and Ice.- 11.1 Role of Snow and Ice.- 11.2 General Approach.- 11.2.1 Gamma Radiation.- 11.2.2 Visible Imagery.- 11.2.3 Thermal Infrared.- 11.2.4 Passive and Active Microwave.- 11.2.5 Related Applications.- 11.3 Current Applications.- 11.3.1 NOHRSC- Snow Cover and Snow Water Equivalent Products.- 11.3.2 Canadian Prairie Snow Water Equivalent Mapping.- 11.3.3 Snowmelt Runoff Forecast Operations.- 11.4 Future Directions.- 11.4.1 Improved Resolution in the Passive Microwave.- 11.4.2 Improved Algorithms in the Passive Microwave.- 11.4.3 Outlook for Radar Applications.- 11.4.4 Integration of Various Data Types.- Colour Plates of Chaps. 9–11.- 12 Soil Erosion.- 12.1 Introduction.- 12.2 Basis for using Remote Sensing.- 12.3 Applications.- 12.4 Case Studies.- 12.4.1 Photointerpretation/Photogrammetry.- 12.4.2 Model/GIS Inputs.- 12.4.3 Spectral Properties.- 12.4.4 Topographic Measurements.- 12.5 Future Directions.- 13 Water Quality.- 13.1 Introduction.- 13.2 Basis for using Remote Sensing.- 13.3 Application.- 13.4 Case Studies.- 13.4.1 Suspended Sediments.- 13.4.2 Chlorophyll.- 13.4.3 Temperature.- 13.4.4 Oils.- 13.5 Future Directions.- 14 Groundwater.- 14.1 Introduction.- 14.2 Conceptualization of the hydrogeology.- 14.2.1 The three dimensional hydrogeologic situation.- 14.2.2 Groundwater surface.- 14.2.3 Flow systems.- 14.3 Aspects of water budgets.- 14.3.1 Groundwater irrigation drafts.- 14.3.2 Recharge.- 14.4 Hard rock terrain and lineaments.- 14.5 Groundwater management and conclusions.- 14.6 Conclusions and future perspectives.- Section III: Water Management with the Aid of Remote Sensing Data.- 15 Introduction to and General Aspects of Water Management with the aid of Remote Sensing.- 15.1 Introduction.- 15.2 Potential of remote sensing in water management.- 15.2.1 Surveying and mapping.- 15.2.2 Spatial analysis and regionalization.- 15.2.3 Monitoring and forecasting.- 15.3 River basin planning with the aid of remote sensing.- 15.3.1 Introduction.- 15.3.2 Hydrologic monitoring & forecasting.- 15.3.3 Upstream-downstream interrelationships in river basins.- 15.4 Watershed management with the aid of remote sensing.- 15.4.1 Introduction.- 15.4.2 Hydrologic photo-interpretation for watershed management.- 15.5 Small-scale water resource development and remote sensing.- 15.5.1 Introduction.- 15.5.2 Runoff water harvesting with the aid of remote sensing.- 15.5.3 Flood spreading and groundwater recharge.- 15.6 Irrigation water management and remote sensing.- 15.7 Decision support systems for water management.- 15.7.1 Introduction.- 15.7.2 Expert and decision support systems.- Colour Plates of Chaps. 12–15.- 16 Flood Forecasting and Control.- 16.1 Introduction.- 16.2 General Approach.- 16.2.1 Modeling Philosophy.- 16.2.2 Remote Sensing Data, Types and Acquisition.- 16.2.3 Determination of Hydro-meteorological Information from Remote Sensing Data.- 16.2.4 Transformation of Area Precipitation into a Real-time Forecast of a Runoff Hydrograph.- 16.3 Real-time Flood Control with the Aid of Flood Forecasts Based on Remote Sensing Data — an Example.- 16.3.1 Basic Principle.- 16.3.2 Radar Rainfall Measurements in the Günz River Catchment.- 16.3.3 Quantitative Precipitation Forecast (QPF).- 16.3.4 Rainfall-Runoff-Model Application for Flood Forecasting.- 16.3.5 Optimum Reservoir Operation Based on Forecast Flood Hydrographs.- 16.4 Flood Forecasting and Control in an Urban Environment.- 16.5 Future Perspectives.- 17 Irrigation and Drainage.- 17.1 Introduction.- 17.1.1 Current non-remote sensing approaches and limitations.- 17.1.2 Reviews of remote sensing applications in irrigation and drainage.- 17.2 General Approach.- 17.2.1 Applications versus Observables and Algorithms.- 17.2.2 Theory and conceptual approach.- 17.2.3 Examples of applications.- 17.3 Current Applications.- 17.3.1 General.- 17.3.2 High resolution mapping of irrigated lands.- 17.3.3 Crop water requirements — Visible and Near Infrared.- 17.3.4 Crop water stress — Thermal Infrared.- 17.3.5 Catchment hydrology.- 17.3.6 Detection of saline areas.- 17.3.7 Irrigation management.- 17.4 Current and future observations.- 17.5 Future Directions and Potential.- 18 Computation of Hydrological Data for Design of Water Projects in Ungauged River Basins.- 18.1 Introduction.- 18.2 General Approach.- 18.2.1 MODUL I: Satellite system, data processing.- 18.2.2 MODUL II: Assessment of the monthly area precipitation on the basis of multi-temporal satellite imagery.- 18.2.3 MODUL III: Estimation of runoff values.- 18.3 Application.- 18.3.1 Study area and data used.- 18.3.2 Assessment of the monthly area precipitation with the aid of multi-temporal B2-Meteosat satellite imagery.- 18.3.3 Rainfall — Runoff Model.- 18.4 Further Applications.- 18.5 Summary and Discussion.- 19 Detection of Land Cover Change Tendencies and their Effect on Water Management.- 19.1 General Remarks.- 19.2 Hydrological Modelling and Land Cover Change.- 19.3 A Case Study: Land Use Change Detection by Remote Sensing in the Sauer River Basin, Western Europe.- 19.4 Summary.- Colour Plates of Chaps. 16–19.- Section IV: Future Perspectives.- 20 Future Perspectives.- 20.1 Introduction.- 20.2 Status of Hydrologic Research and Modeling.- 20.3 Water Management.- 20.4 Data Issues in Hydrology and Water Resources Management.- 20.5 Intensive Field Campaigns.- 20.6 Existing Sensors and Platforms.- 20.7 Planned and Proposed Sensors and Platforms.- 20.8 Remote Sensing and Future Needs in Hydrology.- Appendix 20.1 Existing and Future Remote Sensing Satellites and Sensors Relevant to Hydrological Applications.- Appendix 20.2 Specification for Sensors Listed in Appendix 20.1.- List of Acronyms.