Abstract:
Remote sensing is a reliable and cost-effective tool for managing extreme water conditions such as floods and droughts. The timeliness of satellite data is critical in flood management, rescue operations, damage assessment, planning the flood plains and to formulate long term strategies. In conditions of water scarcity, satellite data are useful for monitoring and assessing the drought severity and consequent impact on agricultural production. It can be used to forecast reservoirs inflows, which is helpful in initiating advance measures to cope with water scarcity. The changes in live storage capacities due to sedimentation can also be captured through satellite data, facilitating realistic assessment of water storage and efficient storage reservoir management under extreme conditions.