Regional Scale Satellite Data Sets for Agricultural, Hydrological and Environmental Applications in Zambia

Many applications in the areas of agricultural, hydrological and environmental resource management require data over very large areas and with a high imaging frequency - monitoring crop growth, water stress, seasonal wetland flooding and natural vegetation development. This precludes the use of fine resolution data (Landsat, Spot) on the grounds of cost, accessibility and low imaging frequency. Meteorological satellites have the potential to fill this need, given their very wide spatial coverage, and high repeat imaging. The Remote Sensing Unit (RSU) at the Zambia Meteorological Department routinely receives, processes and archives imagery from both Meteosat and NOAA AVHRR satellites. Here I wish to present some examples of applications of these data sets that arise from the RSU work - relationships between rainfall and vegetation development as assessed by satellite, derived information and seasonal patterns of flooding in the Barotse floodplain and the Kafue flats. I also wish to outline ways in which a more widespread use of this data by the Zambian institutions canbe achieved.