Welcome to our ‘Quick Facts’ series! In this new series, we are spotlighting remarkable places on our planet while deepening our understanding of aquatic ecosystems. This time, we’ll focus on lake Eyre.

Ephemeral lakes are temporary water bodies with very dynamic water levels influenced by inflows, precipitation, and evaporation. They appear only when the conditions are right.

Kati Thanda’s transformation after rare rains

Lake Eyre also known as Kati Thanda is one such endorheic basin with Flood‑to‑Dry Cycle and according to Guiness book of world records, the largest ephemeral lake. Most years, Kati Thanda lies as a vast, gleaming salt pan, the lowest natural point on the Australian continent at about 15 meters below sea level. But during rare periods of heavy rainfall in its distant catchments, it transforms into a shimmering inland sea.

Water Extent calculated by EOMAP using Copernicus Sentinel-3 imagery.

Heavy rains in Queensland in early 2025 sent major inflows toward the basin leading to one of the more significant flood events of the 21st century, though not filling up the lake completely.
The image below the Water Extent of 2438 km² calculated by EOMAP using Copernicus Sentinel-3 imagery.

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Learn more about integrated water quality monitoring here.

For hands-on insights on your lake, please contact the water quality team.

Welcome to our ‘Quick Facts’ series! In this new series, we are spotlighting remarkable places on our planet while deepening our understanding of aquatic ecosystems. This time, we’ll focus on ancient lakes.

Long-lived lakes are biodiversity hotspots

Ancient or long-lived lakes are classified as lakes sustaining water consistently for at least a million years. They are very rare on our planet.

Their sustained water presence creates isolated aquatic environments where unique species evolve. Therefore, ancient lakes are known to hotspots of biodiversity and endemism. Lake Ohrid in Southeast Europe, for instance, boasts over 200 endemic species of plants and animals.

Insights into long-term environmental change

Despite being rare, the combined freshwater volume of these ancient lakes is enormous. Lake Baikal, for example, carries 20% of the world’s unfrozen freshwater.

Having persisted for millions of years, these long-lived lakes are unique time capsules. In this role, they offer invaluable insights into long‑term environmental change and the resilience of aquatic life.

Lake Zaysan, Kazakhstan. At EOMAP, we retrieved the sum of organic absorption using European Space Agency – ESA Copernicus Sentinel-3 imagery.

Lake monitoring across the world

In many lake projects worldwide, we are delivering environmental intelligence. These include Lake Elsinore and  Canyon Lake in the US, Lake Constance and the “land of 1,000 lakes” Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany, or Lake Victoria in Africa.

With space-based insights on water quality, we support utilities, authorities, and industries in smarter risk management and sustainable decision‑making.

Let’s connect

Learn more about integrated water quality monitoring here.

For hands-on insights on your lake, please contact the water quality team.

On this international Clean Energy Day, the United Nations highlight the need for a just, rapid, and global energy transition. Healthy aquatic systems and reliable data from space play key roles here.

The UN Secretary-General emphasizes that ‘renewables are the engine that can drive this transition.’ However, grid infrastructure, high costs, and accessibility barriers continue to slow down global progress.

How EO can speed up the energy transition

At EOMAP, we know that water is a key pillar of the energy transition, whether for hydropower, coastal infrastructure, risk management, or environmental monitoring. And this is exactly where satellite data delivers crucial advantages:

• Global and continuous monitoring of water quality, sediment dynamics, and water levels
  This is essential for hydropower-relevant reservoirs, which can now be monitored more accurately than ever through satellite data.
  Challenge the eoapp HYPOS and the SnowPower tool.
• Improved planning of renewable energy projects
  EO data supports the siting of floating solar, offshore wind, and hydropower projects by visualizing dynamics, flow conditions, and long-term environmental changes.
  Challenge the BLUE-X toolbox, designed to accelerate offshore renewables.
• Faster reaction capability
  Decision-makers can detect changes in rivers, lakes, and coasts within hours, especially during extreme events or risks to energy infrastructure.
  Challenge eoapp AQUA and its alert functions.

Our mission: Environmental intelligence

A clean energy future requires more than renewable technologies. We also need a deep understanding of our blue planet. With space-based environmental intelligence, we support utilities, authorities, and industries in smarter risk management and sustainable decision‑making

Use cases across the world

In many projects worldwide, we are already delivering actionable insights for hydropower reservoirs and other renewable energy installations. These include Georgean and Albanian reservoirs, and Cahora Bassa in Mozambique.

The image shows Philippsee, Germany’s the largest floating photovoltaic (PV) installation in 2024. It was processed on the basis of ESA’s Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery.

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Check out more use cases here.

For your applications, please get in touch with the water quality team.

Winter is a challenging period for the hydropower sector. In her feature “Winter hydropower operations in focus: from reactive to proactive management” for the online mag “Power Technology”, Scarlett Evans outlines problems and challenges the cold season poses, but also innovative solutions to address these.

Peak electricity demand

Hydropower’s winter vulnerability is growing. Peak demand coincides with infrastructure stress and limited water availability. Climate-driven shifts, such as variable precipitation, mid-season thaws, or rapid snowmelt add complexity. Advanced monitoring and predictive systems are now critical for proactive operations.

Near realtime snow estimates

In her article, Evans makes the case for accurate snow data: ‘According to the European Space Agency (ESA), during the winter more than 50% of the water used for hydropower production in colder climates is stored as snow. Accurately measuring that storage is essential for managing flood risks, anticipating potential drought and forecasting power generation.’

Furthermore, International Hydropower Association (IHA) vice-chair Dr Óli Sveinsson states: ‘With increased monitoring and longer lead inflow, forecasting changes can be anticipated and production planning optimised.’

Satellite technology for forecasting

In this context, the author introduces – among others – the SnowPower solution: ‘Integrating satellite and radar sensors from the ESA’s Sentinel-1 constellation, the system retrieves snow depth information across vast and often inaccessible areas, allowing operators to monitor snow water equivalent and melt dynamics‘, before quoting SnowPower project manager Sina Starmans: ‘Better data helps them decide when to generate more or less power, anticipate excess water, and ultimately maximise energy production from the available snow water equivalent.’ Evans also highlights the value of historical data for identifying long-term shifts in snowmelt patterns and supporting future infrastructure planning.

Towards more resilience in hydropower

The author concludes that the challenge no longer is to withstand extreme cold, but to anticipate how shifting snowmelt and freeze-thaw cycles affect water availability weeks or months in advance. According to Óli Sveinsson, hydrology should be seen as a dynamic rather than stationary force in the future. Moreover, he expects applying climate data and modelling to increase resilience of hydropower installations.

Read the full article here.

Sina Starmans, EO specialist and project manager

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Please contact Sina Starmans and the water quality team.

Check out more on SnowPower here.

Iran’s water crisis is a wake-up call. We have looked at the extent of the drama from space to see what we can learn for the future. Above all, we hope the people of Iran will soon be blessed with rainfall.

Iran is facing the toughest drought in recent history, and Tehran could run out of water within weeks. Entire communities may face evacuation.

Not just an Iranian problem

The crisis shows how climate change, overuse by agriculture, industry, and swelling urban populations can push water systems to the brink. Water stress is escalating worldwide, including here in Europe. Recently, the UN has found ‘water crisis’ or ‘water stress’ no longer appropriate for many cases. This is why the UN University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health – the UN’s Think Tank on water – titled its latest report published in January 2026 “Global Water Bankruptcy Report”.

Monitoring aquatic environments is not a cure-all, yet can enable data-driven and timely action. However, traditional monitoring methods often fail to provide timely, basin-wide insights, leaving policymakers and businesses blind to emerging risks.

Enhancing water governance

Just as we cannot provoke rainfall, there is actionable information we can provide to water managers. Space-based monitoring can significantly improve water governance by offering the following:

• Real-time visibility of water levels and quality across vast regions
• Seasonal and long-term trends of water levels and quality
• Early warning systems for droughts, floods, and pollution events
• Data-driven decision-making for agriculture, industry, and urban planning

Satellite technology to anticipate crisis

Space-based monitoring is also about resilience. By integrating satellite data with field and ground data, authorities can anticipate crises before they spiral out of control, safeguard ecosystems, and ensure water security.

Use cases across the world

In projects like ESA’s Global Development Assistance (GDA) Water, we are already delivering actionable insights for rivers and lakes worldwide. These include the Zambezi Basin, the Mekong Delta, or the Elbe River. Moreover, we track volume changes in reservoirs, chlorophyll surges, reveal turbidity, and support emergency responses to algal blooms in many other projects.

ESA’s Copernicus Sentinel-2 images below show the Amir Kabir Dam, around 60 km northwest of Tehran. The comparison unveils the drastic water loss leading to the crisis. According to Reuters quoted in this article by CNN, the reservoir was only 8% full in early December 2025.

The Amir-Kabir reservoir northwest of Tehran captured by ESA’s Sentinel-2 in October 2021

The Amir-Kabir reservoir captured by ESA’s Sentinel-2 in October 2025, when the crisis emerged

Let’s connect

Check out more use cases here.

For more details, please get in touch with the water quality team.

Learn more about our river-focused solutions.

In their graphic story “Starving the Mekong”, Reuters’ team shows the huge impact hydropower projects have on sediment flow along the Mekong River. By amazing visual storytelling they follow the longest river in Southeast Asia nearly 5,000 kilometres downstream from the Plateau of Tibet to the South China Sea.

“Studies estimate that 96% of the sediment load will be trapped once all dams proposed in the Mekong Basin are in operation”, it says.

And this was EOMAP’s part: Together with Reuters we analysed over 1,500 satellite images around four major dams. Turbidity served as a proxy for sediment levels, an approach that we had validated on various rivers before.

🛰 In this case, like in many other river monitoring cases, the view from space offers 3 key advantages:

1. Go back in time: The images for the Mekong analysis date back to the 1990s, which “allows us to calculate turbidity levels before many of the dams were built,” says our data analyst Philipp Bauer.

2. Detect changes: Comparing data over three decades makes impacts on sediment flow visible.

3. Get the big picture: Geospatial data offer a view on the entire river catchment. It also enables to investigate the impacts of each cascade.

Christopher Howe of WWF has commented as follows: “Hydro dams may, in the right places, help reduce carbon emissions. But in the case of the Mekong they trap the life force of the river, the sediment. This increases the climate vulnerability of many millions of people, huge sectors of the economy of Cambodia and Viet Nam, and the incredibly valuable and diverse biodiversity of the region.”

To reduce such drastic impacts, we have – together with European partners – developed a new toolbox. With HYPOS, we wish to support sustainable hydropower planning, for the sake of nature and people.

We congratulate Kanupriya Kapoor, Simon Scarr and their colleagues of Thomson Reuters on this great work.