Monitoring Surface Water with SAR for Water Resource Management
- Start Date:
- Oct. 20, 2026
- End Date:
- Oct. 27, 2026
- Description:
- Monitoring surface water is critical for supporting agriculture, sustaining ecosystem health, and managing water resources. The recent availability of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission provides users with high-resolution, consistent observations of Earth's surface every 12 days. These observations are particularly valuable in tropical and flood-prone regions, where frequent cloud cover and varying illumination often limit the effectiveness of optical remote sensing. Complementing these observations, NASA's Observational Products for End-Users from Remote Sensing Analysis (OPERA) project is producing global, analysis-ready surface water products that provide readily accessible information for researchers, resource managers, and decision-makers. This intermediate-level training will introduce participants to complementary approaches for monitoring surface water using NISAR and OPERA. Participants will learn how to use NISAR SAR amplitude data to generate their own flood maps by identifying open water and inundated vegetation, as well as how to use the analysis-ready OPERA Surface Water Extent product for monitoring surface water and to support water management activities. The training will highlight the strengths, limitations, and appropriate applications of each approach. The training will cover the fundamental principles of how radar detects surface inundation, the characteristics of NISAR and OPERA datasets, and considerations for selecting and interpreting these data for different applications. Through hands-on demonstrations, participants will learn how to access, visualize, and analyze NISAR and OPERA data using open-source software, gaining practical experience with workflows for surface water monitoring and water resource management.
- Targeted Audience:
- Water resource managers, flood managers, and disaster response managers from federal, state, and local government agencies, NGOs, and private sector organizations. Students and academics who are interested in radar remote sensing for water resources applications.
- Expected Outcomes:
- By the end of this training, participants will be able to: Differentiate radar backscatter characteristics in order to identify open water and inundated vegetation. Generate a flood map from NISAR SAR amplitude data using open-source software. Compare the workflows for deriving a flood map from NISAR observations and using the analysis-ready OPERA Surface Water Extent product. Evaluate when it is more appropriate to generate a flood map from NISAR observations versus using the OPERA Surface Water Extent product. Access, visualize, and interpret OPERA Surface Water Extent products for flood and surface water monitoring applications.
- Host:
- NASA Applied Remote Sensing Training Program (ARSET)
- Organizer:
- NASA Applied Remote Sensing Training Program (ARSET)
- Format/Training Type:
- Webinar
- Language:
- English, Spanish
- Attendance:
- Open
- Application Deadline:
- Oct. 27, 2026
- Qualifications:
Introduction to SAR, or equivalent knowledge (https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/trainings/introduction-synthetic-aperture-radar)
- Contact Name:
- Brock Blevins
- Contact Email:
- brock.blevins@nasa.gov
- Link:
- https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/trainings/monitoring-surface-water-sar-water-resource-management
- Thematic Area:
- Water Resources
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