**1.3 Remote sensing (RS) techniques and geographical information system (GIS) applications in groundwater studies**

The use of earth observation applications has recently gained momentum [18–23]. The techniques offer unique opportunities to simultaneously study large surface areas, making it possible to extrapolate and correlate isolated spatial data. Moreover, earth observation techniques can provide large-scale (regional or even global) information that would otherwise be impossible to collate in a short space of time. Thus, these techniques make it possible to study variations in groundwater storage (GWS) in areas where ground-based data are not available, as well as for inaccessible areas. The availability of earth observation applications coupled with the advent and popularity of geographic information systems (GIS) has made investigations in

*Groundwater Dynamics in Transboundary Aquifers of Southern Africa DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109906*

**Figure 3.** *Map of the 24 transboundary aquifers located in the SADC region.*

groundwater studies a possibility in largely arid and semi/hyper-arid locations where the skills for ground-based observations are not available [24–27].

Spatio-temporal remote sensing provides global near-real-time, automated, costeffective data that are accessible and accurate [24, 28–31]. The aim of this study was to explore the use of remote sensing (RS) techniques, coupled with the application of geographical information systems (GIS) to assess the spatio-temporal variability of groundwater resources of the Karoo Sedimentary Transboundary Aquifer as well as the Stampriet Transboundary Aquifer System.
