Advancing hydrology by fostering EO collaboration

Scientists from the ESA Hydrology Science Cluster gathered at ESA-ESRIN in Frascati from 25 to 27 November to enhance collaboration in Earth Observation for Hydrology and Water Cycle science. This event brought together scientists from 22 ESA and European Commission-funded projects to enhance synergies in Earth Observation (EO) for hydrology and the water cycle.

The meeting offered scientists a comprehensive view of ESA-funded hydrology initiatives across Europe, fostering idea exchange and collaboration, and identifying shared goals and challenges to drive research forward.

Espen Volden and Diego Fernandez Prieto (ESA) opened the event by presenting the cluster mission and underlying the importance of creating synergies between the projects.

The event featured keynote speeches:

  • Mark Drinkwater (ESA) discussed the ESA Science Strategy, highlighting the agency’s commitment to advancing Earth Observation (EO) technologies and fostering international collaboration to address global environmental challenges; and also presented ESA future missions.
  • Filipe Aires (ESTELLUS) explored AI methods for enhancing hydrological variable modelling.
  • Jan Polcher (GEWEX) and Mark Bierkens (Utrecht University) presented insights into water cycle and hydrology challenges.
  • Luis Samaniego (UFZ) introduced the 4DHydro project before other presentations described its five science case studies and discussed round-robin results.

 

Challenges and opportunities

During the discussion, participants identified key challenges, such as the need for a benchmark ensemble of hydrological ECV datasets and a standardized data-sharing structure. They also emphasized the importance of modularizing hydrological and land surface models (HM/LSM) and maintaining open dialogue with stakeholders.

To tackle these and many other challenges for hydrology science, ESA is at the front line with several activities:

Upcoming EO missions

  • EarthCARE will significantly contribute to precipitation modelling.
  • Hydroterra+ Earth Explorer is designed to fill the temporal resolution gap by providing C-band SAR data from geostationary orbit.
  • HydroGNSS will provide new insights into the Soil Moisture parameter (SM) together with ROSE-L, which will additionally contribute to Snow Water Equivalent estimation.
  • The ESA mission NGGM (Next Generation Gravity Mission) and the ESA-NASA constellation MAGIC – presented by Ilias Daras (ESA) – focus on measuring mass changes on Earth, which includes the movement of water masses. The improved temporal and spatial resolution that this will bring will be crucial for understanding sea level rise, ice sheet dynamics, and water storage changes.

FAIR and open science

  • EarthCODE – presented by Anca Anghelea (ESA) with consortium partners – is one of ESA’s Earth Observation Programme initiatives to advance FAIR (Findable – Accessible – Interoperable – Reusable) and open science.

EarthCODE uses existing European platform solutions to facilitate cloud-based analyses of EO data and geospatial products, ensuring the continuity of scientific workflows. It also provides tools for managing open research data, including data, code, and documentation, making Earth Science research more reproducible, transparent, and collaborative, thereby enhancing our ability to tackle global environmental challenges. Key stakeholders include ESA Science Clusters, ESRIN Science Hub members and researchers working under ESA-funded projects. The first release of the portal is planned already before the end of this year 2024.

For more information about the ESA Hydrology Science Cluster, ongoing projects and future opportunities, please, visit the dedicated page.

 

SHARE