NASA Satellite-based Earth Observation Systems and Hydrological Modeling
Enhance Capacity Building in the Lower Mekong River Basin
Abstract
Index Terms: 1622: Earth system modeling; 1630: Land/atmosphere
interactions; 1800: Hydrology; 1836 Hydrological cycles and budgets;
1840 Hydrometeorology; 1855: Remote sensing; 1996 Web Services; 4305:
Space weather; 6334: Regional Planning This work addresses a key
objective of SERVIR-Mekong Project related to integrating geospatial
information in government decision-making, planning, and communication
for societal good. The SERVIR-Mekong is a partnership between the U.S.
Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. National
Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) formed to help regional
organizations in the Lower Mekong Region to use information provided by
Earth observing satellites and geospatial technologies in managing
climate risks. Our work integrated multiple satellite-based earth
observation systems, in-situ station data and spatial data with the Soil
& Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrologic model employed in the Mekong
River Basin region to develop a Lower Mekong River Basin region’s
hydrological decision support system. Simulated hydrological fluxes of
streamflow, soil moisture, and evapotranspiration at the Lower Mekong
River Basin were presented utilizing our developed hydrological decision
support system. Our work results have been presented via multiple Tethys
platforms, Tethys is an easily customizable platform that hosts web
applications, that facilitate accessing NASA satellite-based earth
observation systems as well as the Lower Mekong River Basin region’s
hydrological decision support system. Earth observations data has
provided solutions to assist people in the Lower Mekong River Basin to
overcome various obstacles experienced in enhancing hydrological
decisions that are related to difficult access and incompleteness,
inconsistency, scarcity, as well as poor spatial representation of in
situ data products.