CSIR (South Africa) builds capacity in water management

CSIR researchers are being trained to use remote sensing technology developed in the Netherlands to measure evaporation over extensive areas in South Africa. This information could be integrated in catchment water balance modelling and be used by catchment management agencies and others tasked with water resources management. There is currently no local group that estimates evaporation operationally.

This follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the CSIR and WaterWatch, a Dutch company, to use its Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) technology to determine spatial estimates of evaporation using remote sensing data. Using the SEBAL technology, one can now upscale from ground measurement, so-called point-based estimates, to spatial estimates of evaporation over extensive areas at once.