The increasing amount of data obtained from earth observation satellites has led to the need for powerful computers which enable to download and process big data. To address this challenge, cloud-based geospatial platforms have been developed. Google Earth Engine (GEE) is one of them as a cloud-based web platform that allows researchers to reach Google's massive storage and computing capabilities. In addition to having many satellite data such as Landsat, Sentinel, MODIS in its archive, it also allows external data upload. GEE, which enables instant computing on petabytes of data, makes it possible to work on high-impact problems such as deforestation, drought, disaster, disease, food security, water management, climate monitoring, and environmental protection at a local or global scale.

In this sense, as the 5th of the series of trainings on remote sensing applications in water resources management, a training was held under the theme of “Satellite Data Processing in Google Earth Engine for Water Resources Management” between 7-9 May 2024 at SUEN.

Prof. Dr. Nebiye MUSAOĞLU, Researcher Gül Nur KARAL NESİL and Researcher M. Raşit ÇELİKALP from Istanbul Technical University – Satellite Communications and Remote Sensing Implementation and Research Center (ITU-CSCRS) gave lectures on general basics and applications.

The experts from the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works, the General Directorate of Water Management, the General Directorate of Agricultural Research and Policies, the General Directorate of Agricultural Reform, and the General Directorate of Information Technologies under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry attended the course.

The training covered below topics:

• Introduction of the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform
• GEE Data Basics and Data Catalog
• Functions used in GEE
• Classification and accuracy analysis with GEE
• Change analysis with GEE