Remote Sensing in Water Resource Monitoring a Comprehensive Review on Monitoring the Quality and Quantity of the Water Resources Using Remote Sensing Applications

Remote sensing is used for capturing the earth observations whereas the place is not easily accessible to the humans. The remote sensing satellite images are widening its application day by day. The geo-synchronous and geo-stationary satellites are placed on different altitudes to observe the electromagnetic spectrums from the earth. The active sensors emit its own energy for receiving signal while passive sensors are only illuminating with the sun light source. Radiometric, spectral, spatial, and temporal resolution possess the quality of the image even the specification of the sensors in the satellite. The satellite images and its resolution vary from 10 cm to 30 m. The multi-date remote sensing satellite images are recording the signals as observations from the planet for the specific time period continuously. The analysis of water mask data, spatio-temporal distributions of surface water and ground water, the morphometric analysis, surface and ground water interactions, potential evapotranspiration (PET), watershed delineation, groundwater table fluctuations, water quality, other spectral indices related to water resource analysis, etc. Due to rapid urbanization, the water resources are getting polluted by domestic and industrial wastes which lead to water-borne diseases. Increasing demand for water causes interstate disputes and agricultural loss occurs due to lack of proper irrigational process in the land. The water resources are either highly exploited or polluted because of poor governance and mismanagement of stake holders in the local community. Apart from rejuvenating and conserving the water resources continuously, monitoring and managing the demand is highly recommendable for sustainable development. Monitoring the quantity and quality of the water resources through remote sensing will derive the output more accurate and it will be applied to the decision-making system of various fields such as drought risk assessment, food security, water scarcity, flood risk zone, floor space index (FSI), and reconnaissance drought index (RDI). The remote sensing applications in water resources intend to analyze the hydrology, meteorology, and agronomy. The geospatial database is used to quantify and check water quality parameters for the conservation of water resources.

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Authors and Affiliations

1. Centre for Water Resource Management, University of Madras, Chennai, India N. Priyanka, J. L. Prameena Sheeja & G. Bhaskaran
2. Professor and Head i/c of Centre for Water Resources Management, University of Madras, Guindy, Chennai, India G. Bhaskaran

1. N. Priyanka