Abstract:
For more than a century, river discharge has been measured indirectly through observations
of water level and low velocity, but recently the number of gauging stations worldwide
has decreased and the situation is particularly serious in African countries that sufer more
than others from discontinuous and incomplete monitoring. As one of the most vulnerable
regions in the world to extreme weather events and global warming, African countries need
adequate and reliable monitoring. Decades of available Earth Observations data represent
a tool complementary to the hydro-monitoring network and, in recent decades, they have
demonstrated their potential, especially for data-poor regions. In this paper, a review of
methods for hydrological and hydraulic modeling and for estimating river discharge by the
use of satellite data, speciically radar altimetry and optical sensors, is provided, with particular
focus on
their
role in
the climate
changes
monitoring.
More
emphasis is placed on
their
relevance on
African basins highlighting limits and
advantages.
