The continental hydrological cycle is one of the least understood components of the climate system. The understanding of the different processes involved is important in the fields of hydrology and meteorology.In this volume the main applications for continental hydrology are presented, including the characterization of the states of continental surfaces (water state, snow cover, etc.) using active and passive remote sensing, monitoring the Antarctic ice sheet and land water surface heights using radar altimetry, the characterization of redistributions of water masses using the GRACE mission, the potential of GNSS-R technology in hydrology, and remote sensing data assimilation in hydrological models.This book, part of a set of six volumes, has been produced by scientists who are internationally renowned in their fields. It is addressed to students (engineers, Masters, PhD) , engineers and scientists, specialists in remote sensing applied to hydrology. Through this pedagogical work, the authors contribute to breaking down the barriers that hinder the use of Earth observation data. Provides clear and concise descriptions of modern remote sensing methods Explores the most current remote sensing techniques with physical aspects of the measurement (theory) and their applications Provides chapters on physical principles, measurement, and data processing for each technique described Describes optical remote sensing technology, including a description of acquisition systems and measurement corrections to be made

The environmental and economic importance of monitoring forests and agricultural resources has allowed remote sensing to be increasingly in the development of products and services responding to user needs.This volume presents the main applications in remote sensing for agriculture and forestry, including the primary soil properties, the estimation of the vegetation’s biophysical variables, methods for mapping land cover, the contribution of remote sensing for crop and water monitoring, and the estimation of the forest cover properties (cover dynamic, height, biomass).This book, part of a set of six volumes, has been produced by scientists who are internationally renowned in their fields. It is addressed to students (engineers, Masters, PhD), engineers and scientists, specialists in remote sensing applied to agriculture and forestry.Through this pedagogical work, the authors contribute to breaking down the barriers that hinder the use of radar imaging techniques. Provides clear and concise descriptions of modern remote sensing methods Explores the most current remote sensing techniques with physical aspects of the measurement (theory) and their applications Provides chapters on physical principles, measurement, and data processing for each technique described Describes optical remote sensing technology, including a description of acquisition systems and measurement corrections to be made

This book is a collection of overview articles showing how space-based observations, combined with hydrological modeling, have considerably improved our knowledge of the continental water cycle and its sensitivity to climate change. Two main issues are highlighted: (1) the use in combination of space observations for monitoring water storage changes in river basins worldwide, and (2) the use of space data in hydrological modeling either through data assimilation or as external constraints. The water resources aspect is also addressed, as well as the impacts of direct anthropogenic forcing on land hydrology (e.g. ground water depletion, dam building on rivers, crop irrigation, changes in land use and agricultural practices, etc.). Remote sensing observations offer important new information on this important topic as well, which is highly useful for achieving water management objectives.Over the past 15 years, remote sensing techniques have increasingly demonstrated their capability to monitor components of the water balance of large river basins on time scales ranging from months to decades: satellite altimetry routinely monitors water level changes in large rivers, lakes and floodplains. When combined with satellite imagery, this technique can also measure surface water volume variations. Passive and active microwave sensors offer important information on soil moisture (e.g. the SMOS mission) as well as wetlands and snowpack. The GRACE space gravity mission offers, for the first time, the possibility of directly measuring spatio-temporal variations in the total vertically integrated terrestrial water storage. When combined with other space observations (e.g. from satellite altimetry and SMOS) or model estimates of surface waters and soil moisture, space gravity data can effectively measure groundwater storage variations. New satellite missions, planned for the coming years, will complement the constellation of satellites monitoring waters on land. This is particularly the case for the SWOT mission, which is expected to revolutionize land surface hydrology. Previously published in Surveys in Geophysics, Volume 37, No. 2, 2016

Surface water is essential for all forms of life since it is involved in almost all processes of life on Earth. Quantifying and monitoring surface water and its variations are important because of the strong connections between surface water, other hydrological components (groundwater and soil moisture, for example), and the changing climate system. Satellite remote sensing of land surface hydrology has shown great potential in studying hydrology from space at regional and global scales. In this thesis, different techniques using several types of satellite estimates have been made to study the variation of surface water, as well as other hydrological components in the lower Mekong basin (located in Vietnam and Cambodia) over the last two decades. This thesis focuses on four aspects. First, the use of visible/infrared MODIS/Terra satellite observations to monitor surface water in the lower Mekong basin is investigated. Four different classification methods are applied, and their results of surface water maps show similar seasonality and dynamics. The most suitable classification method, that is specially designed for tropical regions, is chosen to produce regular surface water maps of the region at 500 m spatial resolution, from January 2001 to present time. Compared to reference data, the MODIS-derived surface water time series show the same amplitude, and very high temporal correlation for the 2001-2007 period (> 95%). Second, the use of SAR Sentinel-1 satellite observations for the same objective is studied. Optical satellite data are replaced by SAR satellite data to benefit the ability of their microwave wavelengths to pass through clouds. Free-cloud Landsat-8 satellite imagery are set as targets to train and optimize a Neural Network (NN). Predicted surface water maps (30 m spatial resolution) are built for the studied region from January 2015 to present time, by applying a threshold (0.85) to the output of the NN. Compared to reference free-cloud Landsat-8 surface water maps, results derived from the NN show high spatial correlation (_90%), as well as true positive detection of water pixels (_90%). Predicted SAR surface water maps are also compared to floodability maps derived from topography data, and results show high consistency between the two independent maps with 98% of SAR-derived water pixels located in areas with a high probability of inundation (>60%). Third, the surface water volume variation is calculated as the product of the surface water extent and the surface water height. The two components are validated with other hydrological products, and results show good consistencies. The surface water height are linearly interpolated over inundated areas to build monthly maps at 500 m spatial resolution, then are used to calculate changes in the surface water volume. Results show high correlations when compared to variation of the total land surface water volume derived from GRACE data (95%), and variation of the in situ discharge estimates (96%). Fourth, two monthly global multi-satellite surface water products (GIEMS & SWAMPS) are compared together over the 1993-2007 period at regional and global scales. Ancillary data are used to support the analyses when available. Similar temporal dynamics of global surface water are observed when compared GIEMS and SWAMPS, but _50% of the SWAMPS inundated surfaces are located along the coast line. Over the Amazon and Orinoco basins, GIEMS and SWAMPS have very high water surface time series correlations (95% and 99%, respectively), but SWAMPS maximum water extent is just a half of what observed from GIEMS and SAR estimates. SWAMPS fails to capture surface water dynamics over the Niger basin since its surface water seasonality is out of phase with both GIEMS- and MODIS-derived water extent estimates, as well as with in situ river discharge data.

Microwave Remote Sensing of Land Surface: Techniques and Methods brings essential coverage of the space techniques of observation on continental surfaces. The authors explore major applications and provide detailed chapters on physical principles, physics of measurement, and data processing for each technique, bringing readers up-to-date descriptions of techniques used by leading scientists in the field of remote sensing and Earth observation. Presents clear-and-concise descriptions of modern methods Explores current remote sensing techniques that include physical aspects of measurement (theory) and their applications Provides physical principles, measurement, and data processing chapters that are included for each technique described

Land Surface Remote Sensing: Environment and Risks explores the use of remote sensing in applications concerning the environment, including desertification and monitoring deforestation and forest fires. The first chapter covers the characterization of aerosols and gases by passive remote sensing. The next chapter presents the correlation of optical images for quantifying the deformation of the Earth's surface and geomorphological processes. The third chapter is examines remote sensing applications in the mining environment. The fourth chapter depicts the strong potential of radar imagery for volcanology and urban and mining subsidence studies. The next two chapters deal respectively with the use of remote sensing in locust control and the contribution of remote sensing to the epidemiology of infectious diseases. In the last ten years, spatial observation of the Earth—particularly continental surfaces—has expanded considerably with the launch of increasing numbers of satellites covering various applications (hydrology, biosphere, flow of surface, snow, ice, landslide, floods). This has paved the way for an explosion in the use of remote sensing data. This book offers essential coverage of space-based observation techniques for continental surfaces. The authors explore major applications and provide a corresponding detailed chapter for the physical principles, physics of measurement, and data processing requirements for each technique, bringing you up-to-date descriptions of techniques used by leading scientists in the field of remote sensing and Earth observation. Provides clear and concise descriptions of modern remote sensing methods Explores the most current remote sensing techniques with physical aspects of the measurement (theory) and their applications Provides chapters on physical principles, measurement, and data processing for each technique described Describes optical remote sensing technology, including a description of acquisition systems and measurement corrections to be made

For a long time, the dynamics of urban and coastal areas have been the focus of administrators and decision makers in charge of public policy in order to better take into account anthropogenic pressure and the impact of climate change. This volume presents applications of remote sensing in urban environments and coastal zones, including the use of remote sensing in city planning (urban expansion, light pollution, air quality, etc.), observation of the properties of ocean color, the study of coastal dynamics (identifying coastlines and estimating sediment balances, etc.) and analysis of the dynamics of mangroves. This book, part of a set of six volumes, has been produced by scientists who are internationally renowned in their fields. It is addressed to students (engineers, Masters, PhD), engineers and scientists, specialists in remote sensing applied to the coastal environment and urban areas.Through this pedagogical work, the authors contribute to breaking down the barriers that hinder the use of Earth observation data. Clear-and-concise descriptions of modern methods of remote sensing for a variety of applications Explores the most current remote sensing techniques, with physical aspects of their measurement (theory) Presents physical principles, measurement, and data processing chapters that are provided for each technique described