Free satellite data for the assessment of surface water and groundwater bodies

Measurements of water storage provide a critical information to scientists and resource managers, especially when dealing with the growing challenges that are arising in the water security context. Satellite information can be an effective tool to complement in situ observations and prior knowledge; such information is available at a global scale and offers monitoring possibilities that are often under-used. Many reservoirs are located in remote regions, sometimes with poor local measurement infrastructure; also, the new perspective of free and public satellite data is encouraging new monitoring opportunities in areas where the usage of satellite data was not considered before. This presentation will go through a review of freely available satellite products, such as Landsat and altimetry data, their possibility of joint exploitation to observe surface reservoirs, and will provide a brief outlook at future high performance missions (e.g. SWOT), and the possibility of monitoring groundwater variability by gravity missions.