From Satellites to Streamflow:
Modern Tools for River Monitoring

In a changing climate, reliable monitoring of river discharge across entire catchments is more crucial than ever. Yet in many regions, in situ measurements of water level and discharge remain sparse, difficult to maintain, or entirely unavailable. Today, Earth Observation (EO) technologies offer powerful new ways to monitor surface waters and to understand river dynamics from local to regional scales.

This intensive one week course introduces participants to modern EO data sources and demonstrates how to extract river related parameters—such as water levels and discharge—from satellite missions including Sentinel 3 and Sentinel 6 radar altimetry. Participants will also explore large scale water balance approaches, using satellite gravimetry data to investigate terrestrial water storage variations and their links to river systems. The programme blends core measurement principles with hands on sessions in the Innovation Lab, where participants process real datasets and apply EO methods to real world challenges.

To complement the EO modules, the course provides a solid grounding in river hydraulics. Participants will revisit the geometric and physical parameters that govern river discharge and practise how to obtain, analyse, and interpret them. Through manual exercises and cloud based workflows, they will conduct sensitivity analyses and develop an intuitive understanding of discharge estimation. The programme continues with 1D hydraulic modelling, covering the evaluation of rating curves and the analysis of discharge–depth–elevation relationships using cross sectional profiles.

A field session is planned on campus (weather permitting) under the motto “Get to know the river”. This engaging component allows participants to observe a river system through the lens of a hydraulic engineer and to connect field observations directly with theoretical concepts. The course concludes with an introduction to 2D hydraulic modelling, expanding the focus from river channels to flood prone rural landscapes and illustrating how hydraulic models support flood assessment and solution design. Where possible, drone based surveys will complement these activities by providing high resolution topographic data.

Overall, this course offers a practice oriented, integrated learning experience that bridges satellite observation, field understanding, and hydraulic modelling—strengthening river monitoring and water management capacities across Africa.

Learning Objectives:

• Explain the principles of radar altimetry for inland water applications.
• Explain how satellite gravimetry (e.g., GRACE and GRACE-FO) supports catchment-scale water balance closure.
• Apply Python libraries and cloud-based tools within the EO Africa Innovation Lab to process EO datasets.
• Develop and implement EO data processing workflows using interactive Jupyter Notebooks.
• Interpret and analyze the geometric and physical parameters governing river discharge.
• Integrate EO-derived altimetry data with in-situ river flow observations at cross-point locations.
• Apply 1D hydraulic modelling to derive and evaluate rating curves in data-scarce environments.
• Apply the use of Sentinel data for river geometry, extent and validation.
• Assess river characteristics in the field using fundamental hydraulic principles.
• Apply and evaluate 2D hydraulic modelling approaches to support flood assessment and solution design in rural areas.

Each day of the workshop will consist of morning and afternoon sessions with total duration of 6 hours. The sessions will focus on the introduction to relevant concepts, methods, data, platforms and cloud computing. Theoretical lectures will be intertwined with practical exercises. Participants will be asked to shortly present their group assignment during the last day of the training.