Initiatiefvoorstel kennisnetwerk water

1. (Tentative) Title initiative :
“Knowledge Network Water: Earth observation data for water research and applications.”

2. Theme (cf. call text for detailed specification):
use of – data from – space instruments for water quality and/or quantity in urban, rural and marine environments

3. Initial/tentative description of the proposed research:
The Knowledge Network Water will organise knowledge exchange and cooperation between partners in the water research chain – from fundamental research to applied research to application – in support of innovative use of earth observation (EO) data for research and applications in the water sector. We will set up three scoping studies performed by postdoctoral reserachers on three water related issues that are of immediate importance for the Netherlands and the world: 1) Water quality - from headwater to the coastal seas; 2) Droughts – related to soil moisture, evaporation, vegetation development and primary production; 3) floods.
For each of these issues we will a) assess current challenges in fundamental and applied research and water management applications; b) assess barriers to overcome these challenges and what earth observation developments are needed to overcome these barriers; c) assess the state-of-the-art; d) define promising new research directions based on the above; e) select one or two of these research directions as the basis for further research under the current call; f) apply the outcome of this research in a number of national and international case studies.
Our research lines will connect directly to innovation and societal needs. We will use state-of-the-art EO products from ESA and from innovative SMEs in our consortium and the results will be used in case studies and tool development by innovative SMEs and knowledge institutes. The assessment of challenges and barriers will be supported by stakeholder solicitation in case studies. The development and application of innovative EO data will not stop at using such data for water system status and trend assessment. We will use these data also as part of indicator development, to feed operational forecasting systems, and to help parameterize high-resolution models, or the development of digital twins, in support of climate adaptation challenges faced by water management.

4. Main applicant:
Name: Z. Su
Title: Professor dr.
Institute: University of Twente, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC)
Telephone: +31 (0)53 4874 311
E-mail: z.su@utwente.nl

5. Members of the network:

Organization	Name	Included/ intended/ considered	Field of expertise
Utrecht University	Prof. dr. ir. M.F.P. Bierkens	Included	Global hydrology and water resources; stochastic hydrology
Delft University of technology	Prof. dr. ir. N.C. van de Giesen	Included	Water resources management; sensing technologies and decision support
Wageningen University	Dr. ir. R. Teuling	Included	Land surface hydrology; hydrological extremes; evaporation
VU University Amsterdam	Dr. ir. Y van de Velde	Included	Water quality of headwaters and river transport of nutrients
University of Twente	Dr. Yijian Zenng, Dr. S. Salama	Included	Earth observations for soil-water-Ppant-energy Interactions; remote sensing of water quality and water resources management
IHE Delft	Dr. M. Mul	Included	Water resources management; use of EO data for water accounting.
NIOZ	Prof. dr. A.J. Dolman	Included	Coastal and ocean research; ecohydrology; global water and carbon cycle
Deltares	Dr. M. Eleveld	Included	EO for uptake in freshwater and marine modelling
TNO	Eric Engelbrecht, MSc.	Included	Innovation of the maritime sector
KWR	Dr. ir. R. Bartholomeus	Included	Agro- and ecohydrology; advanced water supply systems to combat drought
KNMI	Dr. A. Stoffelen	Intended	Application of Radar and Lidar to meteorology and oceanography; data-assimilation
Hydrologic	Dr. ir. A. Lobbrecht	Included	Hydroinformatics and decision support for water management
FutureWater	Gijs Simons, MSc	Included	Hydrology and water resources
STOWA	Ir. H. van Leeuwen	Included	Application of EO data in water management
Planet (Vandersat)	Dr. Jaap Schellekens	Included	Advanced EO product development for water management
NLR	Job de Vries, MSc	Included	Change detetection; information-driven action; development and use of space instruments; definition of use-cases.