The manifold impacts of a rapidly changing environment are increasingly pressuring sensitive water resources and require advanced monitoring approaches to develop sound water management practices. This new session has been merged from earlier sessions to emphasize the rapid development, diversity and potential of remote sensing in hydrological science and application. It hosts contributions that are organized around three main topics:

(a) Recent advances in hydrological remote sensing are based on field experiments for retrievals and process understanding. New sensors allow for frequent observations of hydrologically relevant parameters and variables. In addition there have been numerous field experiments which have brought together data measured from different platforms, including tower-, aircraft-, and satellite-based measurements. Results from these varied satellite and in-field measurements are examined to demonstrate the use of remote sensing in hydrology for water cycle and climate studies at different scales.

(b) Remote sensing techniques, in combination with field experiments and modelling, are expected to contribute in an increasing way to monitor water levels, extent and storage and, ultimately, estimate river discharges. This would be a key contribution to the monitoring of global change impacts and an integrated management of water resources and aquatic ecosystems. The focus is given to the innovative contribution, current performances and new technologies of related remote sensing measurements and how to quantify the accuracy and quality of satellite data as a pre-requisite for data assimilation.

(c) The use of remote sensing information in operational hydrology and water resources management has long been relatively limited. This is changing now as many remote sensing techniques, such as airborne laser scanning or space-borne radar systems, are increasingly being used in an operational fashion. This session therefore also solicits contributions that either (i) demonstrate ongoing operational remote sensing applications in hydrology and water resources management or (ii) clearly show a strong potential of operationalization in the near future.