Optical satellite pictures - The up to date source for discharge determination in arid countries

10 p.International audienceMany arid countries suffer severe water scarcity. Often lacking knowledge about hydrologic features like discharge prohibits the utilisation of valuable water resources. In this paper the basic approach is described to derive information about runoff water in arid landscapes by using optical satellite images. Wadi systems are highly sensitive regarding fluviomorphologic changes which are induced by rare flood events. Changes of river pattern, river width, sinuosity and so on correspond to duration and intensity of discharge events. These changes can be observed from space by comparing satellite data from different moments. Changes of river patterns are extracted from the satellite data and analyzed by visual comparison and fractal analysis. Finally the findings are correlated with discharge data from the two test sites in Jordan and Oman to calibrate the model to be transferable to other arid environments. First comparisons of satellite data before and after a flood event in Oman 2003 show exemplarily promising potential of this research project