This entire section has dealt with water - sensing its presence and its activities using spaceborne sensors. We close with an examination of some of the practical uses of remote sensing in finding and tracking the movements of water on the land.
Attention is focused on water as snow and water in streams.
Satellite data are excellent forecasters of floods and imagery is capable of seeing the extent of flooding over wide areas. Both metsat and Landsat type imagery are effective monitors of snow cover and rivers out of their banks - the wide areal coverage suits this kind of use. In this context, hydrology refers of water distribution and management on land surfaces. Obviously, metsats can provide near real-time indications of weather conditions that portend severe storms and heavy rainfall. Over a longer period, satellite imagery can show potential flooding from spring thaws and image interpreters can estimate expected quantities of water runoff by monitoring snow cover over large regions.