Remote sensing solutions for water management

#Terrascope, #Mers & Oceans, #Inondations, #Copernicus, #Image in the news

Publié le 22 novembre 2022

The amount of earth observation data is enormous and increases every day. Data processing and algorithms are also more advanced making many remote sensing applications more accessible to the general public. Also for monitoring water quality. We can better detect, monitor and predict algae blooms and turbidity, two important parameters for water surface management and public health monitoring. The challenge at present is how to deal with the large amount of data and integrate it into applications designed to monitor water quality. Discover how Rijkswaterstaat (the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management in The Netherlands) is using remote sensing solutions for managing water surfaces and monitoring public health.

Water quality from the air: a wealth of data

Remote sensing is increasingly being used for various policy purposes. In the context of sustainability, it is an efficient monitoring strategy, and Earth observation data also provide a lot of additional information next to point measurements made in the field. In addition to the classic field measurements, remote sensing will increasingly be used to make maps that cover the entire region of interest and thus increase spatial insights.

But all the extra amount of data can also become a stumbling block: how do you organize access to such wealth of data, and where and how can it be processed and stored? Important questions for a policy organization that wants to switch to remote sensing driven data collection, in order to make decisions based on objective, up-to-date and area-wide information.

Remote sensing for policy making

Ever since the launch of the first Copernicus satellite in 2014, the access to high-quality Earth observation data has grown tremendously. Not only the continuity and quality of the data received a new boost, but also the applications are becoming more sophisticated. Continuous developments in cloud services and new techniques in deep learning and Artificial Intelligence give us opportunities to improve the processing of large amount of Earth observation data.

This allows government agencies such as Rijkswaterstaat (the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management in The Netherlands) to use or integrate advanced image processing into their own operational processes. It gives them the possibility to archive, process and use data in important decision-making processes much faster and easier. Possible applications include monitoring road infrastructure to determine where maintenance work needs to be done, monitoring water quality to protect public health, spatial planning or monitoring ecosystems. The possibilities are endless.

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Source

Remote sensing solutions for water management | Terrascope. (n.d.). https://terrascope.be/en/cases/remote-sensing-solutions-water-managemen…