Mistrale at the Geospatial World Forum 2017

Groundwater contributes to the major portion of the world's freshwater resources. The demand for water resources has exceeded population growth by a factor of two or more over the last hundred years. Excess extraction by people has led to dwindling ground water supplies. In addition to this, the rising temperatures have also compounded the problem and altered the precipitation mix. With the innovation and advancement in space technology, it is now possible to employ remote sensing techniques for estimating surface and subsurface water over large areas. This session highlights how remote sensing data and geospatial techniques can act as good sources and tools for providing data needed for protection of the ground water and also in planning to conserve them.

The objective of MISTRALE project is to provide UAV-based soil moisture and flooded areas monitoring. Compared to traditional devices, this technique will provide a wide coverage, all-weather, low weight solution that can be embarked on autonomous vehicles (RPAS or drone). To do so, it relies on an innovative use of GNSS (positioning satellites) signals, named reflectometry (GNSS-R). This approach consists in comparing the direct signal, i.e. the signal received directly from satellites, with those reflected by the ground. Correlation between the measured reflectivity and the soil’s dielectric properties provide the humidity of shallow earth’s surface. For improved accuracy both GPS and GALILEO signals will be used.