Enabling an operational Sentinel-1 wetland monitoring service for the Earth Observation Data Centre.

Wetlands are amongst the planet‘s most productive ecosystems providing food and water, controlling floods, protecting against consequences of storms and supporting biodiversity. Thus, a consistent mapping and monitoring of global wetland areas should be a top priority in the upcoming years.

What WetMon does:

1) Mapping of wetland extents at a specific time and location

2) Identification of different wetland types

3) Monitoring of wetland changes

4) Hydrological characterisation of wetland areas

The Unique advantage of WetMon:

Satellites can provide detailed information on local topography, types of wetland vegetation and surrounding land cover, and the dynamics of the local water cycle. A single satellite image can cover a wetland’s entire catchment area – the surrounding landscape that drains into a wetland. In particular, radar imagery is able to differentiate between dry and waterlogged surfaces and can deliver multi-temporal data showing how wetlands change across seasons and years. The use of satellite data together with geospatial analysis has proven to be a key tool and a unique information source to support wetlands conservation and management.