Remote Sensing of Water Resources in Semi-Arid Mediterranean Areas: the joint international laboratory TREMA

Monitoring of water resources and a better understanding of the eco-hydrological processes governing their dynamics are necessary to anticipate and develop measures to adapt to climate and water-use changes. Focusing on this aim, a research project carried out within the framework of French–Moroccan cooperation demonstrated how remote sensing can help improve the monitoring and modelling of water resources in semi-arid Mediterranean regions. The study area is the Tensift Basin located near Marrakech (Morocco) – a typical Southern Mediterranean catchment with water production in the mountains and downstream consumption mainly driven by agriculture. Following a description of the institutional context and the experimental network, the main recent research results are presented: (1) methodological development for the retrieval of key components of the water cycle in a snow-covered area from remote-sensing imagery (disaggregated soil moisture from soil moisture and ocean salinity) at the kilometre scale, based on the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS); (2) the use of remote-sensing products together with land-surface modelling for the monitoring of evapotranspiration; and (3) phenomenological modelling based only on time series of remote-sensing data with application to forecasting of cereal yields. Finally, the issue of transfer of research results is also addressed through two remote sensing-based tools developed together with the project partners involved in water management and irrigation planning.