15 Introduction to and General Aspects of Water
Management with the aid of Remote Sensing
A.M.J.Meijerink and C.M.M.Mannaerts
International Institute for Aerospace Surveys & Earth Sciences, lTC, Enschede, the Netherlands
15.1 Introduction
Water management deals with the control, distribution and allocation of water flows
and the treatment of rivers and catchments, consequently, solutions to many of the
problems in water management require the use of knowledge and expertise from
diverse sources. Some parts of these problems might best be solved using traditional
approaches like hydrologic measurement, monitoring or simulatio~ modelling. Other
components may require information from one or more data bases from different
domains such as population, law, politics, economic statistics and biophysical
resources. Many problems in water resources management are however solved by
qualitative reasoning and experience.
A common aspect in the many facets of water management studies is the location
of the problem, the position within the catchment and the spatial interrelationships
between physical catchment characteristics, land use, settlements and infrastructure.
Aerial photography and satellite imagery contain spatial information of the surface
and near surface features of the earth to be captured and analyzed. As explained in
Chap. 2, various imaging satellite sensors are nowadays available. Remotely sensed
image analysis, when applied to hydrology is best embedded in a Geographic and
Hydrologic Information System (HGIS). A HGIS which can be thought of as a system
coupling the following elements: data bases, i.e. thematic, spectral images and
hydrologic time series data, a spatial analysis module with eventually a link to
hydrologic simulation models or a rule base, which may contain heuristics or methods
for muItiobjective decision making (Meijerink et aI., 1993).
The aim of this chapter is to introduce the practicing hydrologist or water manager
to the role of remote sensing techniques for solving problems in water management.
Emphasis is placed on the extraction of hydrologic knowledge from remotely sensed
information layers rather than on the digital processing and handling of spectral data,
for which we refer to other chapters and literature.
15.2 Potential of remote sensing in water management
Remote sensing can be used in various activity domains of the water manager, i.e.
surveying and mapping, spatial analysis and prediction or forecasting and decision
making in real-time. e.g. flood control (see Chap. 16), irrigation (Chap. 17).
G. A. Schultz et al. (eds.), Remote Sensing in Hydrology and Water Management
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2000
Management with the aid of Remote Sensing
A.M.J.Meijerink and C.M.M.Mannaerts
International Institute for Aerospace Surveys & Earth Sciences, lTC, Enschede, the Netherlands
15.1 Introduction
Water management deals with the control, distribution and allocation of water flows
and the treatment of rivers and catchments, consequently, solutions to many of the
problems in water management require the use of knowledge and expertise from
diverse sources. Some parts of these problems might best be solved using traditional
approaches like hydrologic measurement, monitoring or simulatio~ modelling. Other
components may require information from one or more data bases from different
domains such as population, law, politics, economic statistics and biophysical
resources. Many problems in water resources management are however solved by
qualitative reasoning and experience.
A common aspect in the many facets of water management studies is the location
of the problem, the position within the catchment and the spatial interrelationships
between physical catchment characteristics, land use, settlements and infrastructure.
Aerial photography and satellite imagery contain spatial information of the surface
and near surface features of the earth to be captured and analyzed. As explained in
Chap. 2, various imaging satellite sensors are nowadays available. Remotely sensed
image analysis, when applied to hydrology is best embedded in a Geographic and
Hydrologic Information System (HGIS). A HGIS which can be thought of as a system
coupling the following elements: data bases, i.e. thematic, spectral images and
hydrologic time series data, a spatial analysis module with eventually a link to
hydrologic simulation models or a rule base, which may contain heuristics or methods
for muItiobjective decision making (Meijerink et aI., 1993).
The aim of this chapter is to introduce the practicing hydrologist or water manager
to the role of remote sensing techniques for solving problems in water management.
Emphasis is placed on the extraction of hydrologic knowledge from remotely sensed
information layers rather than on the digital processing and handling of spectral data,
for which we refer to other chapters and literature.
15.2 Potential of remote sensing in water management
Remote sensing can be used in various activity domains of the water manager, i.e.
surveying and mapping, spatial analysis and prediction or forecasting and decision
making in real-time. e.g. flood control (see Chap. 16), irrigation (Chap. 17).
G. A. Schultz et al. (eds.), Remote Sensing in Hydrology and Water Management
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2000