Book contents
- Satellite Remote Sensing for Water Management
- Reviews
- Satellite Remote Sensing for Water Management
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Why Manage Water with Satellite Remote Sensing?
- 2 An Introduction to Remote Sensing from Space
- 3 A Review of First Principles
- 4 Introduction to Cloud Computing
- 5 Satellite Remote Sensing of Precipitation
- 6 Satellite Remote Sensing of Surface Water in Lakes and Reservoirs
- 7 Satellite Remote Sensing of River Discharge
- 8 Reservoir Management from Space
- 9 Crop and Irrigation Management from Space
- 10 Satellite Remote Sensing of Surface Water Temperature
- 11 Social Justice in Water Management
- 12 Citizen Science and Water Management
- Index
- References
6 - Satellite Remote Sensing of Surface Water in Lakes and Reservoirs
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 October 2025
Book contents
- Satellite Remote Sensing for Water Management
- Reviews
- Satellite Remote Sensing for Water Management
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Why Manage Water with Satellite Remote Sensing?
- 2 An Introduction to Remote Sensing from Space
- 3 A Review of First Principles
- 4 Introduction to Cloud Computing
- 5 Satellite Remote Sensing of Precipitation
- 6 Satellite Remote Sensing of Surface Water in Lakes and Reservoirs
- 7 Satellite Remote Sensing of River Discharge
- 8 Reservoir Management from Space
- 9 Crop and Irrigation Management from Space
- 10 Satellite Remote Sensing of Surface Water Temperature
- 11 Social Justice in Water Management
- 12 Citizen Science and Water Management
- Index
- References
Summary
In this chapter will focus on surface water – notably the water that is in lakes and reservoirs, rather than rivers and groundwater. This is the water that remains directly on land and represents a significant reservoir for the water cycle. The storage of such water drives many water management applications, as we shall see later, such as reservoir and flood management (chapter 8), irrigation (chapter 9). Here, we will overview the various remote sensing techniques that can be used to detect if a land is covered with water and if so, what is the extent. Later in the chapter we will learn how two successive satellite overpasses can help us estimate storage change a water body may have experience. This storage change can be a crucial component for various water management applications as it helps us understand how much water lakes or reservoirs are storing, losing (to diversion or evaporation) or releasing.
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- Satellite Remote Sensing for Water Management , pp. 125 - 184Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
References
References
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Suggested Reading
Alsdorf, D. E., Rodríguez, E., and Lettenmaier, D. P. (2007). Measuring surface water from space. Reviews of Geophysics, vol. 45, RG2002. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006RG000197CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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Cooley, S. W., Ryan, J. C., and Smith, L. C. (2021). Human alteration of global water storage variability. Nature, vol. 591, 78–81.10.1038/s41586-021-03262-3CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pekel, J.-F., Cottam, A., Gorelick, N., and Belward, A. S.. (2016). High-resolution mapping of global surface water and its long-term changes. Nature, vol. 540, 418–422.10.1038/nature20584CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
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