HR: 15:30h
AN: G14A-01 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: Surface Water Monitoring: Brief History, Current State and Future Needs
AU: * Fekete, B M
EM: balazs.fekete@unh.edu
AF: University of New Hampshire, Water Systems Analysis Group Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space Morse Hall, 39 College Road, Durham, NH 03824 United States
AU: Vorosmarty, C J
EM: charles.vorosmarty@unh.edu
AF: University of New Hampshire, Water Systems Analysis Group Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space Morse Hall, 39 College Road, Durham, NH 03824 United States
AB: Surface water bodies represent the most important water resources to human society, and their accurate monitoring is essential for proper water management and resource allocation. Furthermore, river discharge is one of the most accurately measured components of the hydrological cycle, yet it is not fully utilized in Earth Systems sciences. The value of surface monitoring was recognized by ancient civilizations. Human expansion in the last two centuries were often followed by the establishment of discharge monitoring networks. The currently operating discharge gauges monitor over 50% of the continental land mass, capturing more than 70% of the freshwater discharge to the oceans. Approximately 30% of the continental land mass is arheic (i.e. do not contribute any freshwater to the oceans) and the remaining 20% non-monitored areas are primarily in small coastal basins that would be hard to fully instrument. Despite the reasonably good spatial coverage, the current monitoring network is inadequate in terms of spatial density and the availability of the monitored records. Information about the state of standing water bodies (lakes, reservoirs, wetlands and floodplains) is almost non-existent for global analysis. However, traditional surface water monitoring techniques are well established and highly accurate, but their operation is labor intensive (in particular, the calibrations that require intensive field surveys). Major improvement in surface water monitoring would require either substantial investment or a technological breakthrough. Remote sensing techniques (especially satellite borne sensors) have the potential to offer the much needed data about inland surface waters that would complement the existing monitoring network. The planned presentation will give a brief overview of the evolution of global discharge monitoring. It will demonstrate the temporal and spatial distribution of discharge records by geographic regions. The requirement of the adequate monitoring network for large scale applications will be discussed both in terms of network density and observation frequency. The potential of remote sensing will be assessed by evaluating various satellite sensors and platforms in the context of a virtual mission that allows the assessment of retrieved information as a function of orbital configurations and sensor characteristics.
DE: 1241 Satellite orbits
DE: 1857 Reservoirs (surface)
DE: 1860 Runoff and streamflow
DE: 1894 Instruments and techniques
SC: Geodesy [G]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly