Monitoring and modelling surface water extent from sub-catchment to continental scales is critical to understanding and quantifying flow dynamics and its impacts and interactions with the built and natural environment, groundwater resources, ecology, and the atmosphere, for both current and climate change scenarios.
Applications include inundation monitoring and modelling to improve flood forecast skill, support flood risk mitigation, enable the understanding of flood-driven alterations of landscape morphology (e.g. variations in the river path), and allow the quantification of groundwater recharge due to flooding. Second, knowledge on surface water extent dynamics is pivotal for the definition of water management plans for the allocation of water resources to human, agricultural, and industrial consumption. Moreover, seasonal and inter-annual variations of surface water extent are the dominant environmental factors affecting the floodplain biota and habitat. Consequently, a thorough understanding of temporal and spatial surface water dynamics is essential for ecosystem studies, and for the definition of wetland and native habitat conservation plans. Furthermore, river floodplains and wetlands are a significant source of methane and other trace gases which are essential to climate regulation. Information on floodplain dynamics is thus required to estimate regional contributions of gases to the troposphere.
Improved understanding of surface water dynamics can be achieved by numerical modelling, by statistical modelling of observations, or by merging observations and numerical models. In particular, airborne and satellite-borne sensors can provide information on water extent, water level, total water storage, and soil moisture. Both single acquisitions and seasonally continuous long-term observations can be used to complement or replace ground observations.
This session welcomes studies aiming at improved observation, understanding, and modelling of surface water dynamics and its impacts and interactions with the built and natural environment.
Key topics: Surface water dynamics, Remote sensing, Ecosystem modelling