A. Chehbouni(1), G. Boulet(1), B. Duchemin(1), V. Simmoneaux(1), R. Escadafal(1),B. Mougenot(1), L. Hanich(2), L. Jarlan(1), S. Khabba(2), M. Le Page(1), S. Erraki(2), J. Ezzahar(2), R. Hadria(1)(2), O. Merlin(2), A. Abourida(2), A. Cheggour(2), I
(1) IRD/CESBIO: UMR CNES-CNRS-IRD-UPS; 18, avenue Edouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9 - France.
(2) Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech , Maroc.
(3) ORMVAH, Marrakech , Maroc. Toulouse, France. (4) Agence de bassin de Tensift (ABHT), Marrakech, Maroc
Recent efforts have been concentrated in the development of models to understand and predict the impact of environmental changes on hydrological cycle and water resources in arid and semi-arid regions. In this context, remote sensing data have been widely used to initialize, to force or to control the simulations of these models. However, for several reasons, including the difficulty in establishing relationships between observational and model variables and the discrepancy of the space-time resolutions of data emanating from different platforms, the potential offered by satellite data has not been fully used. As a matter of fact, a few hydrological studies that use remote sensing data emanating from different sources have been performed. In this context, the SUDMED program has been designed to address the issue of improving our understanding about the hydrological functioning of a semi-arid basin. The first goal is model development and/or refinement, for investigating the hydrological responses to future scenarii about climate change and human pressure. The second aim is the effective use of remote sensing observations in conjunction with process models, to provide operational prognostics for improving water resource management. The objective of this presentation is to provide an overview of the SUDMED program, its objectives and its trust areas, and to present the results obtained associated with the different components of hydrological cycle: namely, snow dynamic, surface water-ground water interaction and the evapotranspiration. Finally, the lessons learned, future objectives and the unsolved issues are presented.