The huge and continuous increase of remote sensing sources of data with direct or indirect relevance for hydrological sciences has opened new opportunities for the scientific community (e.g. high-resolution products) to new or enhanced applications in hydrology, especially in the framework of water fluxes modelling (e.g. estimations of evapotranspiration over large areas or soil moisture fields). Their integration in long-term series and large scale analysis still needs skilled assessment in many scientific and operational applications. For example, the scale effects of a coarse mapping of such variables on the modelling results can strongly affect the accuracy and skill of hydrological models, and pose a constraint for further embedment of remote sensing data in forecasting schemes or scenario assessments. The new context offers the possibility of increasing the skill of models to assess the spatial variability of descriptors and processes in heterogeneous areas, and quantify man-operated issues that greatly impact the hydrological processes on the local scale as irrigation practices, reservoir operation, or modification of the soil surface, and the water budget on the global scale.
The International Commission of Remote Sensing (ICRS) of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS), in the context of the HELPING scientific decade in IAHS (Hydrology Engaging Local People IN one Global world), aims at advanced research to further embrace Observation of the Earth and hydrological knowledge, and pave pathways for societal impacts. ICRS offers a lively scenario of discusion within EGU’26 GA and invites contributions related, but not limited, to the following topics, all aimed at deepening on the current opportunities from remote sensing to better understanding and modelling hydrological processes, further discussing challenges associated to uncertainty and scaling issues in specific applications, and major needs from the scientific community towards operational tools:
Advanced remote sensing of the water cycle
Optimal integration of remote sensing and hydrological modelling
Tools tailored for end-users out of the remote sensing community
Promising developments towards integration of remote sensing in operational systems (flood alerts, drought risks, …)
Submissions from early career scientists, and examples of successful applications of operational tools and dissemination apps are especially welcome.