Exploiting the proliferation of current and future satellite observations of rivers

For about 20 years now, satellite data, in the form of imagery and altimetry, have been used to study river hydrodynamics, floods and floodplain inundation. Over the recent years, the number of scientific papers in this field has considerably increased, and these papers have presented very innovative research and methods for model calibration, evaluation and assimilation as well as event reanalysis and forecasting. This progress has led to a number of recent and upcoming satellite missions that are already transforming current procedures and operations in flood modelling and monitoring as well as our understanding of river and floodplain hydrodynamics globally. This commentary summarizes progress and discusses the current and future proliferation of satellite observations of hydrodynamics and presents a way forward of how to address this in order to make the most use of the ever-increasing amount of Earth observation (EO) data available for flood modelling, mapping and forecasting.