On October 06, 2023, Narges Mohammadi Khoshouei (Sanaz) successfully defended her master’s thesis entitled “Short-term forecast of water reservoir dynamics by integrating earth observation and hydrological modeling for dam management” at the Earth Observation Research Cluster.

The thesis was supervised by Dr. Sarah Schönbrodt-Stitt (Earth Observation Research Cluster, University of Würzburg) and Dr. Paolo Nasta (Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Portici, Italy).

Abstract of the thesis: Reservoirs play an important role in the hydrological cycle, serving as valuable assets for hydropower generation, domestic and industrial water consumption, and irrigation. In this study, the volume variations of a Mediterranean water reservoir were examined from 2017 to 2020 by merging surface water area extracted from Sentinel-1 and water level from the prediction of a hydrological model. The method is validated using in situ storage variation measurements. The R² value of -0.19 demonstrates that the water storage variation dynamics cannot be efficiently captured with the proposed method. Although the water area methods upon improvement have the potential to be used for monitoring and further be coupled with more accurate water level for providing operational information on conditions in ungauged reservoirs.

We wish Sanaz all the best for her future career!