Method for satellite monitoring of water storage in reservoirs for efficient regional water management

摘要

Efficient use of water resources, at the basin-wide or regional scale, is the most important subject in integrated water resources management. For this purpose, it is necessary to monitor the variation of water storage in reservoirs within the region. We propose new methods of estimating water storage in reservoirs from satellite observations and digitized topographic data. These methods are applied to the Volta Lake of the Akosombo dam in Ghana. In this application, seasonal and inter-annual variations of reservoir storage are estimated, and the possibility of monitoring water storage is demonstrated.