Space tech maps out Australia's water

Images from NASA's Space Shuttle are being used to create maps that could help manage river resources and flood events.

Topography of Canberra and the Murrumbidgee River using the 30m resolution Digital Elevation Model. (Credit: CSIRO)

NASA SPACE TECHNOLOGY is helping CSIRO scientists produce the most detailed maps yet of Australia's water resources.

A new computer model using the NASA-developed technology will provide the most sophisticated mapping of the continent ever, said Dr Bill Young, director of CSIRO's Water for a Healthy Country Flagship. "This new model provides the best ever maps of terrain shape and water flow paths across the continent and is expected to dramatically improve our understanding of Australia's landscape and water resources," he said at the Bureau of Meteorology in Canberra on Friday.

The Digital Elevation Model will also create three-dimensional landscape images, so the extent of potential floods can be better understood. The model is the product of combined efforts by CSIRO, Australian National University, Geoscience Australia and the Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation. It is the latest in a series of products based on the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data collected by the NASA shuttle Endeavour in 2000.

New NASA space technology will bring environmental improvements

"The 30-metre resolution model will not only revolutionise land and water management applications, but will also enable improvements in many other service areas - for example, calculating improved coverage of mobile phone towers or creating three-dimensional visualisations of the landscape for improved understanding of potential flood extents," Bill said.

Federal Innovation Minister Kim Carr said the model would be a fantastic tool for organisations like the Bureau of Meteorology, the CSIRO and all levels of government to improve water resource management in Australia.

RELATED STORIES
Find Australian Geographic maps...
Maps of Australia: charting our history
Snowy River gets biggest flow for 40 years
Aussies using less water but paying more
Could planting 20 million trees increase drought?
To dam or not to dam?
Water quality concerns plague Queensland
More water for Murray-Darling, says report
Snowy River flushed with 84,000 megalitres
3-D maps reveal depths of sea floor